Through the eyes of a child
by Moonwolflove
Summary: Damon has to take care of Elena's four year old niece. He doesn't like it at all...in the beginning. Will the girl find a way to his heart?
1. Kids are dramatic

**Chapter one **

**Kids…dramatic**

**Hey, there. This is my first fanfic ever…so please don't be too hard. I've already told you that I'm still a student, so my English is far from perfect. But thanks for giving me a chance anyway. I really want to improve my English and my writing, but therefore I'll need to know what I'm doing wrong…so please…review…  
Thanks a lot,  
Moonwolflove**

"When did I skip the part where you're leaving and I've got to handle…that," he said pointing at the little girl that was sitting on the couch and who hadn't even noticed him since he had walked through the door.

Elena looked up, like she had forgotten that the girl was there at all and then she said: "That…is a girl, Damon. And withal she has a name."  
He rolled his eyes. Of course he knew that that little thing was a girl. God, what if he already hadn't knew that anymore? It was the fact that he had to take care of here that ruined his day. That little part, Elena had forgotten to mention.

"Why am I the one to do this again?" he asked, as he leaned against the countertop and watched Elena throwing half of the house into her handbag. How much stuff could a girl possibly need?  
"Why didn't you ask Stefan. He's all packed up by little kids…he likes them, they like him…He's Saint Stefan after all. Do I need to make a picture of it?"  
He paused a second.  
"Or Ric. He loves kids, why would he be a teacher if he didn't?  
"Stefan is out hunting," she said absently while texting something. "And Ric is out with Jeremy. You know that."  
"Oh, right. Men's day out. He had better asked me, instead of your little brother. He doesn't even know that word yet," he grinned.  
"And Caroline thinks that she has to drag me and Bonnie to the mall. So, you're the only one who remains to watch my beloved niece."  
"Just take her with you. I'm sure Blondie will eat her, If you know what I mean."  
"She's too small," she objected.  
"And I'm too old."  
Okay…that had come out strangely. He had wanted to say: too old to watch little kids.  
Elena shook her head laughing, while she turned to him and looked him straight in the eye. Those brown orbs touched his heart every time again and he regretted it that they couldn't look at him in the same way that they looked at Stefan sometimes. What was it that his brother had and he hadn't?

"Her", the little voice said, spinning throughout his head like an irritating fly. He had her. The most lovable person in the world and he had the chance to admire her whenever he wanted.  
And he couldn't, though he would like to. He would tell her how beautiful or smart or nice she was, whenever she would like to hear it. He would care about her with his whole heart. But hers already belonged to Stefan.

Stefan…it will always be Stefan.

He shook his head to get the thought out of it and then he noticed that she was staring at him with that half diabolical- half heartwarming smile. She was planning to say something he wouldn't like.  
"You said that you would help me whenever I needed it."

Oh, no…she was using his own words against him. So unfair…but he secretly liked this side of her. She should show it more often. On the other hand…there was no chance for him anymore. No chance to get away from this stupid babysit deal…but he wouldn't be Damon Salvatore if he didn't try it.

"Yes, you're completely right," he said with a smirk. "In life threatening situations. Taking care of your baby niece doesn't fit the list."  
"She's a four year old toddler, Damon. You've gone through worse."

He wasn't too sure of that. He didn't know a lot about children, but what he knew was that they could be very nasty. Just like little brothers. Take a look at Stefan. Still not changed very much.

"But…", he wanted to throw something back, but Elena silenced him by throwing him a glance, filled with light irritation.  
God, since when could a girl silence him? Most of the time it was the opposite world. He thought about that and came to the conclusion that she apparently had more to say about him than he had thought possibly.

"Fine," he said frustrated. "I'll watch baby girl."  
He would rebel against almost everything till the very end, but this…and he had to admit it, was a hopeless situation. And in hopeless situations you had to accept it.

"Ally," Elena corrected.  
"Ally…baby girl…does it matter?" he called out loud while throwing his arms above his head.  
Elena shook her head again, so lightly that he almost hadn't seen it. She probably started to see that this wasn't a good idea…and he couldn't help but give her equal. He and kids…dramatic.

"Okay, this is really simple. You just ensure that she doesn't get in trouble. She has to be in her bed at eight o' clock and she certainly may not have any sugar. Damon, are you even listening?"

He had been studying a photo on the refrigerator and now he turned around to face her, seemingly little interested.  
"Yeah, yeah…especially the point where she has to be in bed at eight o' clock….are you planning to stay the night at the mall?"  
Now it was Elena's turn to roll her eyes; it didn't fit her as good as it did him. "Funny."  
"You know me, always the funny guy," he said while sending her his typical smirk.  
She threw a glance at him that said as much as "I just can't believe you!" and then she walked over to her little niece, who was watching a stupid children's series with a face like a zombie.

"Ally, honey. Do you mind if Damon stays with you this afternoon? I've got to go somewhere…it's really urgent."

Liar, Damon thought, while he folded his arms across his chest. Secretly he hoped that baby girl would protest, or even start a riot…as long as it would enable him to get away from here. And furthermore it would give Elena a taste of her own medicine.

Baby girl looked at her for a few seconds and then cast a lingering glance at Damon. For a moment, it looked like she would start to scream and run out the door. It wouldn't surprise him…on the contrary, he would even encourage her to do so.

But she didn't,… to his disappointment…and with that…all his hope to get away from this deal started to fade.  
"I don't mind," he heard the little girl replying.  
Elena sent her a sweet smile, one that would melt your heart, and then she turned to Damon, who had followed it all from a distance.  
"That's settled then…Behave yourself," she added, before she swung her handbag around her arm and started to move towards the front door.  
Damm…she did look pretty hot in that dress.  
Then she closed the door behind her and left him alone…alone with a four year old toddler. It was at that moment that the real question started to rise in his head…

What did he have to do now?

**So…how did you like it? Please, let me know it…it would help me a lot.  
The next chapter will take a bit of time, cause it's almost examination period and I won't have a lot of time to write. But I surely won't forget it.**


	2. You're annoying

**Chapter two **

**You're annoying**

**Hey there, I'm back with the next chapter. Thanks for the reviews Allison Val Smith and ILoveYou197 8 you're my first reviewers ever! And cause you guys are eager to know what happens next…well I did hurry…hopefully I was fast enough…Anyway…let's read!**

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_Then she closed the door behind her and left him alone…alone with a four year old toddler. It was at that moment that the real question started to rise in his head…_

_What did he have to do now?_

He turned his head around and looked down at the little girl, who had silently moved from her place at the couch and was standing right in front of him now. Her eyes watched him in a haunting manner and he heard the voice in his head repeating that she was just a little girl. A little helpless girl…not a vampire…not a werewolf…nothing life threatening…right?

"Which game are we gonna play first?" she asked with a sweet voice and an innocent smile on her small, oval face.

Damon frowned, walked towards the couch and put himself down in it, while focusing his eyes back on the girl. Her gaze was a little dazed, like she had trouble understanding what he was doing.

"Listen, girl…," he started, but she interrupted him immediately.

"Ally," she said, while she folded her arms over each other. The way she behaved…she seemed to be a mini-version of Elena. Her brown eyes peeked at him with a glance of annoyance. Something he saw often.

"Ally," he repeated then, "Maybe you don't know it yet, but I'm supposed to look after you…as in watching that you don't do anything dumb. Playing isn't on my list with to do things."

He emphasized the words so that they would be clear from the outset.

Ally frowned; little wrinkles slid down her smooth forehead. "Not one game? Just one…"

Damon pinched the bridge of his nose and then said, as calm as possible: "One game…and then you leave me alone."

She probably hadn't heard those last words anymore, cause she was jumping around, pleased.

"Which game then?" she asked enthusiastic, as she finally came to a standstill.  
"Tag?"  
"No," he replied.  
"Who is it?"  
"Hell no," he almost called.  
"Hide and seek, then?"

With that word, a little plan to make his way to his thoughts.  
"Yeah, that's good," he said with a smile. "Go hide yourself, then I'll come and find you later."

She squealed with pleasure and just wanted to run away, when she pointed a finger at him and said sternly: "You should not look. Otherwise you play false."

He growled inside of him and then closed his eyes. From the moment that he heard her rushing up the stairs, a mean smile started to crawl on his lips.

_Salvatore…you just solved another problem._

Ally could be busy for hours with finding the right spot to hide herself…and it would take hours for him to find her…if he would go and look for her…but he wouldn't…  
Ally free time…sounded good.

He threw his legs on the coffee table, took his Blackberry out of his pocket and started texting to Ric.

**Thanks for leaving the town today, friend…Because of you, I am having the worst time of my life.**

He sent the message and he wasn't surprised that he got a response within the minute.

**It's just a little girl, Damon. She won't bite you. Have a nice day further, huh.**

And that was the encouraging advice from his vampire hunting friend. He just sounded like Elena…in a not ladylike way then.

**Guess who'll lose his head when he sets foot in Mystic Falls again.**

Ric apparently wasn't afraid of his little threat, cause he still had the courage to send him another message back.

**I'm shaking on my legs…but serious now…she's a kid…so behave yourself…or the poor thing will hold a trauma for the rest of her life.**

A trauma…to him? So what? He had never heard a girl complain about that…mostly they liked having him in their thoughts.

He shook his head and texted back:

**Watch out that you don't lose Jeremy…or I know someone who will try to kill you…just that you know…but that person won't be me.**

**Yeah,yeah…no problem. Hear you later, mate.**

Mate, if he really was his mate, than he would turn that ugly car of his immediately to help him out of here. But no, having a men's day out with Jeremy was many times more enjoyable. Sometimes he really wasn't good at his head.

He put his Blackberry back in the pocket of his jacket and decided that he could better sleep for a while. So that he would be able to stay awake when there was really happening something…because this was a waste of time. And he had eternal life…

He had no idea how late it exactly was when he suddenly awoke because of Ally, who had barged in the living, with an angry face. She looked scary for such a little girl and if glances were able to kill, then he would be already dead. Well…really dead.

"You haven't even tried to find me," she screamed angrily. Damon rolled his eyes and was planning on ignoring her, but she kept staring at him, like a rabid cat that was planning to claw his eyes out.

Then suddenly, she broke her intense staring and picked something up from the floor, to what she pointed all here attention.

"Wow, what's this?" she asked curiously while turning the little black thing around in her hands. "E…L…E…N…A."

It was then that Damon exactly knew what Ally had in her hands…his Blackberry. He must had fallen from his pocket while he was asleep.

"Is this a phone?"

He jumped up and snarled: "Give it back, Ally."

She shook her head forceful so that her long brown curls jumped around her.

"I'm going to tell Elena that you're annoying." With those words, a wicked grin spread across her lips, one that only he could use so well. Apparently there was something in her character that was almost the same like his.

"And you can't do anything about it!" she cried, while she was already running down the hall.

Damon ran after her, cursing himself for promising Elena that he would behave himself...which meant…no vampire things.

With a sharp bend, she turned around the corner of the stairs and just slipped away from him before he could grab her sweater. She ran in Elena's room and shut the door behind her.

"Ally!" His voice almost sounded like the growl of a wild wolf. "If you don't give it back then…"

"Then what?" she called from the other side of the door.

"Oh, you really don't want to know that!" he growled while throwing the door open. He looked around the room, but she obviously had already found a "shelter".

He growled frustrated. That kid would make sure that he was going crazy…crazier…

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, Ally," he said, calmer now, while searching through all the holes and corners where a little girl could hide.

Then he heard her voice coming from the inside of the closet.

"Elena, I don't like him, he scares me, can you come home…please?" She sounded imploringly. He moved cautionary to the closet, without making any noise and then pulled the door open.

Ally started to scream and squealed into the phone: "Help me, he's going to kill me!"

**Little cliffhanger…so…how did you like it so far? Please review, you would help me a lot with it. The next chapter will be up soon, but it's a busy week, so maybe it will take a little more time. I'm not sure about that…but the story isn't at his end yet…so…stay tuned.**


	3. You're so mean

**Chapter three**

**You're so mean**

**Hey there, **

**I'm back with the next chapter. I'm heading towards something, but of course…I can't tell you to what. This chapter was a difficult one to write so don't be too hard when you find any spelling or grammatical mistakes…cause you'll probably find a lot of them. (English= not my native language). I'm doing the best I can, but yeah…it doesn't always work out like I would want it to (the use of language, I mean). I love writing this story, it prevents my head from freaking out about the upcoming exams. One other thing before you start reading…I've checked my mail and saw that some of you have added me to their favorite stories or story alerts…thanks for that! I also love my reviewers, who are always giving me courage to write further. You guys are all awesome!  
If you want to review then please don't hesitate , I won't bite  
Moonwolflove**

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"_Elena, I don't like him, he scares me, can you come home…please?" She sounded imploringly. He moved cautionary to the closet, without making any noise and then pulled the door open._

_Ally started to scream and squealed into the phone: "Help me, he's going to kill me!"_

He grabbed the phone from her hands and then heard the panicking voice of Elena on the other side of it.

"Ally? Are you okay? Hello?"

"She's fine."

"Damon? Damon, what the hell are you doing there? She just said that you were going to kill her!"

"Seductive proposal," he said with smooth voice, while throwing a deadly gaze at Ally. She flinched together and it seemed like she preferred to blend in with the darkness of the closet.

"Damon!" Elena was really overwrought, as if she really believed that he would make the little brat a head shorter.

"Relax, Elena. I haven't even touched her. She's overacting… delusions and cetera…," he said with a chuckle.

"Delusions? Damon, I don't believe anything of it, tell me what has really happened or I'll come home immediately."

Sounded like a reason to hang up.

"Elena…there's static at the line," he said as he mimicked a crackling sound. "You're falling away…hear you later…"

"Damon!"

He ended the conversation and put the Blackberry back in his pocket while turning to Ally…or to the place where she had stood ten seconds ago.

Of course…she went off again…she hadn't done that yet in those few hours he had been here. He rushed out of the room, went down the stairs and started looking for her.

"Ally?" How many times was he supposed to call that name?

Then, suddenly, he caught her heartbeat; scared and wild; pounding in his ears.  
He moved in the direction of the noise, which told him that he was getting closer and closer and…he bowed along the seat and grabbed her arm. She almost had a nervous breakdown…as she had expected him to come from the other side. He had surprised her.

"Let go of me!" she screamed while she tried to pull herself loose.

"Yeah, you would wish," he snarled.

"But…"

"No."

At the moment his anger had reached a peak and it would require a lot to get it down again.

"I don't want to hear it, Ally. In fact I don't want to hear anything of you. So go watch TV or draw, or do whatever little kids do, but leave…me…alone. Oh, and the next time I see you with my Blackberry again, you'll have a serious problem. Then you would wish that you would be able to call Elena."

She looked at him with eyes where hate was flickering through the deep brown iris.

"You're so mean."

"Oh, I know…don't forget it."

He released her and she was already moving as far away from him as possible. She put herself down at the kitchen table and started to play on her Nintendo Ds.

Damon kept an eye on her for a few minutes, till he was sure that she wouldn't do another disappearing act and then he went outside, where he lent against the wall and tried to put his thoughts on a row.

He had just threatened a four year old kid.

"She deserved it, right?" the voice in his head said. "She was acting like a little brat and it's okay to threaten little brats. Fear is the most powerful weapon to keep control on someone."

Right?

It had looked obviously back at that moment, when his anger had taken his voice over, but now…now he didn't know it for sure anymore.

Yes, he didn't like the kid, if not hated her…but she couldn't really do much about the fact.

_Agh…Salvatore…quit it…you're only confusing yourself._

He sighed.  
The fresh air cleared his head. Made it empty enough to make him aware of what was going on around him. There was a passing cyclist, a car sped down the street and the cloudless sky high above all of this, didn't show one single hint of upcoming bad weather. But something told him that it would last for long. Rain was coming, a lot of rain…he could sense it.  
He had a pretty strong feeling for some things, and mostly that feeling was right.

He had better go inside…before the hell erupted.

Ally apparently had become tired of her Nintendo Ds, cause she was busy with scribbling on a few leaves that Elena had left for her. She didn't pay attention to him, as if she preferred to forget that he was there. There was no doubt that she was hating him now…but honestly…he didn't really care.

He put himself into the couch again and started questioning himself if he had really meant that…On one side, he understood…he had threatened her after all, but on the other side, he really didn't care what she thought of him…cause he had wanted this as less as she did.

God, he really had to stop doing that!

Distraction…his thoughts needed distraction. He took his Blackberry out of his pocket and saw that he had a missed message of Blondie. Probably to get his ass kicked. He hesitated for a moment and opened it anyway.

**Damon, you seriously owe me one. I've been able to convince Elena to stay here, just in time, otherwise she would already have murdered you. Btw, if I find out that you've done something to Ally, then it will be a pleasure to help her kick your ass. Greetings, Caroline.**

Typical for Blondie, forever the mediator. Why did she always had to intervene in everything? If she hadn't stopped Elena, then she would be already here…Ally would see her and he would be immediately erased from her memory. Besides, Elena would be so busy with her beloved niece, that she would drop the plan to kill him. She wouldn't even see him and he would sneak out of this crazy house with its crazy kids. He would forget the whole situation and would go further with his life.

Everyone would be happy…if Blondie had been able to keep her nose out of other people's business. But before that could happen a miracle should take place.

He put the Blackberry away and boredom began to overpower him. He had been here half a day and it already seemed like half a century. He cast another glance at Ally, who had become the silence herself.

Sleep seemed to be the only pastime that jumped up in this thoughts over and over again (honestly, what else could he do)…but…the last time he fell asleep , a four year old toddler had ran off with his phone…so maybe…it was a bad idea…

Although…it seemed like she was keeping herself pretty busy…She probably wouldn't even notice if he shut his eyes for a while.

He decided to give it a shot. He threw his legs on the coffee table and closed his eyes.

In his dreams most things went chaotic, things were weird, distorted and unrealistic…but there were also dreams of which he could only wish that they would become reality one day. Those dreams usually had to do with Elena.

But this time it wasn't such a dream. This time he got lost in a darkness, darker than the night had ever been.  
Rain was falling incessantly, lighting flashed and danced through the sky and then everything turned to dark again, like it had been before. His eyes were way better than those of a human and through the night, he was able to see where he had ended up.

He was at the Mystic Falls cemetery.

What the hell was he doing there?

He had not quite made that question up in his mind or he already awoke and everything of the dream vanished into thin air.

It took him a while to realize where he was.

In Elena's house

In the living room

And then Ally emerged at the edge of his thoughts. He climbed up and looked at the kitchen table…ready to burn to the ground out of pure frustration.

Unbelievable!

She was off again.

**I can almost hear you guys thinking: "Serious? She's off…again?"  
Looks like Ally is kind of a runner, huh? No worries, it will all become clear. The big question now is: where did she go?  
The next chapter will be up soon, but as I said before…and as I will keep repeating the following weeks…it's busy at school…so it can take a little longer.  
**


	4. It's all my fault

**Chapter four**

**It's all my fault**

**Hey, I'm back with the next chapter. It didn't took that long, did it? I tried to hurry up, but I had some problems with it. I always write it the chapters in my native language first…and this time…I lost a part of it due to my lack to save some documents. So I had to reinvent it…Luckily I did remember most of the lines, so I hope it worked out well. Btw, thanks for the reviews and for adding me to your story alert/ favorite stories. I'm very grateful for that. You're all awesome…have fun reading.  
Moonwolflove.**

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_And then Ally emerged at the edge of his thoughts. He climbed up and looked at the kitchen table…ready to burn to the ground out of pure frustration._

_Unbelievable! _

_She was off again._

He just couldn't believe it!

"Ally!" he yelled her name so loud that the whole neighborhood must have heard it. Everyone, except Ally.

He jumped up, planning to hit her if she had decided to work on his nerves…again.  
He couldn't stay a nice person (well…nice in his own manner…which meant…everything except hitting her).

He started pacing around the house, looking for the noise of her heartbeat, but even that wasn't there. As if she had ever existed, but had disappeared into nothing. Who knows…maybe she had just been some kind of nightmare.

He shook his head. No…why would he dream of a little, annoying girl?

She was gone…ran off…maybe she went looking for Elena? Or maybe she was terrified of him and was that the reason why she had gone off.

God, he could get himself knocked down. He should have known that threaten her would be a bridge too far…but no…and now it was too late.

He threw a last glance at the hall and saw how his suspicions became a fearful truth. The front door was ajar and moved restlessly in the wind.

He took his Blackberry out, dialed Alaric's number and waited impatiently till he answered.

"Hey, Damon. What's going on?"

"If you were a little girl, where would you possibly go?"

"What?" Ric asked disconcerted.

"If you were a little girl, where would you go if you ran away? Just a hypothetic question."

"You've lost Ally?" He asked in deep shock.

"Nooooo," he said indignantly. "She's only temporarily gone."

"What? You've got to find her…Elena will kill you if something happens to her."

"As if I don't know that," he said while he heard a small panic bubbling in his voice. Not because of the fact that Elena would try to murder him. Oh no, not because of that - she wouldn't succeed in it anyway - but because of his fear to lose her. If anything happened to that kid, she wouldn't want to see him anymore for the rest of his life. And he couldn't bear that thought, cause she was the only one (although he would never admit it to her) that kept him from falling in the darkness of eternity.

"Ric, I have no idea where she is…I mean…where can a four year old toddler go? On her own?

"The toy store?"

"If that was a joke, then perhaps I should tell you that it wasn't funny at all. If I was you I would work some more on my humor."

"Calm down, Damon. Think…did she say something? Or did you say something that scared her?

"Why are you suggesting something like that? I would never…" He didn't end the sentence cause his head was showing him an image of Alaric who rolled his eyes in disbelief. It meant as much as: "Yeah, of course."

"Damon?"

"Maybe I scared her a little," he admitted, "but you should have been there, you should have seen how annoying she was."

Cause that was what she had been. She had stolen his phone and had called him annoying. And worst of all…

It was all his fault.

Why did he only realized it now? If he had played hide and seek, just as she had asked, then she wouldn't hate him and wouldn't had ran off too. She would be here…safe and sound.

"Damon? You're still there? Hello?" Ric sounded a bit impatiently on the other side of the line.

He had great difficulty with talking. In his throat, a painful lump had formed in which he menaced to suffocate. It was a part of something he had tried to deny.

Concern…something that told him that he didn't only care for how this would end for him…but also for the little girl. She was out there somewhere…alone, helpless, all because he had to be a heartless idiot.

"Ric…I…hold on." He had wanted to say something, but his attention was suddenly drawn by the drawings that Ally had left on the kitchen table. He carefully took one in his hand and let his eyes slid over the colors. She had divided the sheet in two parts. The colorful side, where happiness seemed to radiate from, showed a man and a little girl, holding each hands The simple drawing showed that the man was a firefighter…and Ally's father. The little girl next to him was Ally herself. The other side of the drawing was dark and joyless. Ally was crying, big tears flew all around her. Next to her she had drawn something that looked like a grave.

Then, suddenly he realized what she meant with it.

She had lost her father…and he had been a complete asshole to her, while she most certainly needed someone to talk to…or to play with…

_Salvatore…you're a horrible person_

"Damon?" He heard Ric's voice asking on the other side of the line.

"Ric, I think I know where she is."

"Oh, that's good. Let me know if you've found her."

"Fine," Damon said. "But keep your mouth shut to Elena."

"Of course," Ric said. The tone of his voice sounded like someone had just betrayed him. He would never betray his best friend…Not if it wasn't a life threatening case. "Hear you later then."

"Yeah, hear you later," Damon replied.

He put the Blackberry away and went outside the house.

It began to rain, like he had predicted, but in no time the little raindrops turned into a real storm. The rain was pouring from the sky and soaked him till he felt his clothes sticking to his body. Clouds had packed up together and it looked as if the night had already fallen. There was darkness all around him. Lighting lit it up for a moment, but disappeared as fast as it had come.

He didn't wait any longer and ran with vampire speed to the Mystic Falls cemetery, which was situated at the border of the town. It lay next to the old cemetery, that looked scary with its ancient tombs and non-pruned grass that was growing between everything. As if it came straight out of a bad horror movie. He ran through the gate and stopped in the middle of the new cemetery.  
The wind blew between the graves, whispering a song, while going wild on the leaves of the trees and played with his dark brown hair. It filled his ears and made it difficult to distinguish any other noises…till he heard a heartbeat. Softly…

Ally's heart.

He ran in the direction of the noise and in the distance he saw a small figure sitting against a tombstone. She had swung her arms around her knees and her long curls were hanging around her face in thick, sticky strings. She was soaking wet… like a soaked cat. He couldn't exactly tell if the water under her eyes were tears or raindrops. Another lighting swept through the darkness and she flinched immediately.

"Ally?" he asked softly, so he wouldn't scare her to death.

Her brown eyes widened with fear first, but then they narrowed to see who he was.

"Damon?" she asked surprised, but softly.

"Yeah, it's me," he replied while he bent through his knees to face her. She looked at him with big, sad eyes and something deep down inside him, broke. How could he ever been so mean to this tiny thing?

"I want to go home," she squeaked, like a little wounded bird.

He nodded, raised his arms to her and she allowed herself to fall in them. She put her small arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.

And so he carried here all the way back to the house, while the rain fell mercilessly on them...

**How did you like it? I know that it's sad for Ally, but this is how I invented her to be. She's a cheerful child most of the time, but sometimes she gets sad when thinking of her father. If you are wondering how he died, then don't worry, I will explain it in the next chapter. Btw…Damon starts to realize that he has been a complete asshole to her…how will that continue? Stay tuned. Next chapter will be up soon, but remember…it's a busy week at school…so it's possible that it takes a bit more time.**


	5. I forgive you

**Chapter five**

**I forgive you**

**Hey there, it took a little longer but I'm back with the next chapter. As I said before…it will explain how Ally's father died. Anyway, I won't keep you too long from reading, dear readers. If you want to review, then don't hesitate. **

Previous

"_I want to go home," she squeaked, like a little wounded bird._

_He nodded, raised his arms to her and she allowed herself to fall in them. She put her small arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. _

_And so he carried her all the way back to the house, while the rain fell mercilessly on them..._

Once they were back home, it looked like a dog with very wet feet had walked through the house. A trail of water and mud meandered through the hallway into the living room. Damon had not paid further attention to it, it would dry naturally.

He had more attention for the little girl that was lying in his arms. Ally trembled and her lips were blue with the cold.  
Both of them were soaking wet and the warmth of the house was pleasant, but couldn't change much to it.  
He took Ally on one arm as he pulled one of the blankets out of a closet. He spread it across the couch and laid Ally down on it. He folded the rest of the blanket over her and she pulled it further up to her chin, while looking up at him with her big, brown eyes.

"Thank you."

Those were such simple words, but somewhere they felt good. He was not used to someone thanking him. And this time…well…although they felt good, he had the idea that they didn't belong to him.

"You shouldn't say that," he said while he sat down on the edge of the couch.

Ally didn't ask why, but he could see at the look in her eyes that she didn't understand.

"Because…you were absolutely right. I'm annoying…and mean…and probably much more than that, but…"

"I understand you," she said and those words made him frown of surprise. He had not expected to hear a four year old child say something like that. And especially not against him…cause in his whole-eternal- life he had never met someone who understood him…or wanted to understand him.

"I mean…," she said with a little frown, as if she had to think about what exactly she would say. "I've been naughty…I wasn't allowed to take your phone, or to call Elena…or call you annoying…"

"Yeah…I haven't forgotten that part yet," he grinned.

She paused for a while and then she whispered almost inaudibly: "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, kiddo," he said with a smile of which he noticed with pleasure how easy it went. "You're not the one who needs to apologize. I'm the one to do that."

He turned towards her, held a hand on his heart and said solemnly: "I'm sorry that I didn't want to play or that I ignored you, or yelled…or scared you…In fact I'm sorry that I've acted like a complete idiot."

Wow, he had never thought that he would actually say that, but he had…and it hadn't been that bad. Now he understood why Stefan was always so straightforward about his feelings.

Ally laughed briefly and said: "You're funny."

"Well…that's better than being mean," he laughed.

"I forgive you too," she said then, softly.

"Thanks, Ally."

He could not believe how much those words meant to him. How much she meant to him. He only knew her a few hours and the greatest part of those hours, he had found her annoying, but the moment when she was gone…alone in the cold, rainy and hard world, had flipped a switch in his head. How much he denied it, deep inside him, he cared about her…and perhaps he had to show it a bit more to her. She was a little girl after all and now he knew better than to yell at her.

She sat up and swung her arms around her knees, while staring in front of her.

"You know, somewhere I knew that you would run off again the moment that I went to sleep."

"Sorry…I wanted to come back before you woke up, but…"

She swallowed and in her eyes he saw the beginning of what would eventually become tears.

"I miss him…mom says that I've got to forget him…but I can't."

Damon realized that she was talking about her father and even he wasn't that impolitic to ask her what had happened to him. It was already bad enough that about half of the Gilbert family felt the need to die before they had seen their children grow up.

"You don't have to forget him, Ally," he said while leaning his head against the couch. This wasn't a subject he was good at, cause he always did the opposite of what he told her to do. He oppressed his feelings till it made him indifferent. But…that wouldn't help a toddler.

"He was there…and then suddenly not more," she said with eyes as if she was looking into her memories. They were glassy, unusual large.

"He left and didn't came back. Mom said he was a hero. He rescued a woman from a fire, but he couldn't save himself."

Poor thing…her father had died in a fire…hero or not, it didn't matter to him. The man had left his daughter in the lurch.

People didn't think at those kind of things when the put their life at the line for another person. They just forgot and didn't return, leaving their family with a broken heart…forever.  
He had never thought of this before…but since he knew Ally, there had changed some things.

Slightly, though. Nothing dramatic.

"As you are now, you make me think a bit of him," she said. "Daddy was a nice guy too."

He smiled. That was something he didn't hear very often. Mostly because he didn't want to be liked. If you were a nice person, people were expecting that you remained that way…and he didn't want to live up to any expectations.

But…how hard could it be to be nice to a little girl?

He threw a glance at the clock on the wall and saw that it was already six o'clock.

"So… I guess we should get you something to eat," he said while he stood up and started to walk into the kitchen.

Ally followed him with the blanket still around her. She sat on a chair at the kitchen table, while he looked awkwardly around him.

He ran a hand through his dark brown hair and saw how she looked at him with a big smile.

"What?" he asked.

"You don't know what to do, huh?

Was it that obviously? He hadn't been a human for one and a half century…and back in those times he hadn't even been the one who had to cook. They had had someone who did that for them. In other words…he had no knowledge of it.

"Yeah, not really," he admitted. "Tell me…do you like pizza?"

**How did you like it? Not too boring, I hope? I know that I make a lot of mistakes, definitely when it comes to finding the right English words. Sometimes I use a word in the wrong context…but…  
anyway…curious about what's going to happen next? Stay tuned. Next chapter will be up soon.  
Btw, don't forget to review, it helps me a lot **


	6. Pizza and Bambi

**Chapter 6 **

**Pizza and Bambi**

**Hey there, I'm back with the next chapter. First of all I want to thank all of you guys for adding me to your favorite stories/ story alert or for reviewing. Thank you 'ILoveYou1978' for being the constant reviewer, you're always the first to review a new chapter . Anyway, sorry it took a bit longer…It's almost examination period and I'm on the edge of freaking out. But enough about that…have fun reading.  
Moonwolflove**

Previous

_"So… I guess we should get you something to eat," he said while he stood up and started to walk into the kitchen._

_Ally followed him with the blanket still around her. She sat on a chair at the kitchen table, while he looked awkwardly around him._

_He ran a hand through his dark brown hair and saw how she looked at him with a big smile._

_"What?" he asked._

_"You don't know what to do, huh?_

_Was it that obviously? He hadn't been a human for one and a half century…and back in those times he hadn't even been the one who had to cook. They had had someone who did that for them. In other words…he had no knowledge of it._

_"Yeah, not really," he admitted. "Tell me…do you like pizza?"_

So…because of his lack of knowledge about people food, they ate pizza. Or in other words…Ally ate and he watched. He would only start considering to hunt a lump of that "food" through his throat if she started to become suspicious…which wouldn't last for long anymore.

She took a big bite of a pizza slice; the cheese dripped down her chin, and then she asked with her mouth half-full: "Why aren't you eating anything?"

"I'm not hungry," he lied smoothly. He was craving, but not for pizza. That stuff couldn't soften the emerging burning in his throat. The only thing that could "cool" it down a bit was alcohol, but there wasn't a lot of it in the house. He didn't see Elena drink a whole bottle of Bourbon on her own. If she did, it would be a complete opposite world.

"But…you've to eat. Everyone has to eat. Otherwise you'll get sick," as she shove a piece of the pizza his way.

"Believe me, that won't happen," he muttered, "Moreover, I don't have to grow anymore…you on the other hand…have to…so if I was you, I would make that…," he pointed at the rest of the pizza, "disappear into my stomach."

She rolled her eyes, as if she had already heard the "you still have to grow" speech a hundred times before and it started to become boring. Nevertheless she took another bite and he couldn't keep himself from grinning. She could be funny…and he had thought that kids were just a bunch of misery. Apparently he had gone pretty wrong on that one too.

Ally consumed half a pizza in less than ten minutes. She ate as if her life depended on it, like a squirrel who eats to survive the winter. A squirrel with large, dark eyes, looking at him with a "you didn't expect that" glance.

He had to admit…the kid knew what eating meant.

He dropped the rest of the pizza in the fridge…knowing for sure that it would end up in someone's stomach. If it wasn't in Jeremy's, then it would be in Jenna's, or Ric's or even Elena's.

Ally already sat under her blanket in the couch and was zapping through the channels on TV. Damon folded his arms over his chest and then he looked at her with a raised eye brown.

"What?" she asked, on the same tone as he always did.

"Don't you have to go to bed?"

Ally threw a glance at the clock, her forehead began to wrinkle.

She was four…there was no way that she could read the clock.

"How late is it then?" she asked.

"Eight o'clock," he lied.

"Not true," she said confidently. "Mom always tells me that I have to sleep when it's eight o'clock…and I know when that is. I'm sure that I still got some time."

Damon rolled his eyes and said: "Yeah…you're really one of a kind."

Ally smiled briefly and patted the place next to her. He sat beside her and then she asked with big puppy-eyes: "Can I watch a movie…please?"

"What movie?" he asked suspiciously, cause he had a strong feeling about what kind of movie it would be…and he didn't like it.

"I don't know…," she said as she pushed a finger to her pursed lips in a very cute gesture.

He started to make a list in his head with all the movies a four year old could possibly mention.  
Disney…Disney…and more Disney.

"Oh, I know!" she called out loud, while she got up and disappeared into the hall. Just to come back one minute later with a DVD in her hands.

"Bambi!"

Yep, hadn't he known…Bambi had been number three on his list, cause it had been pushed to that place by "The Little Mermaid" and "The Beauty and The Beast".

Ally put the DVD into the DVD-player and then she jumped back into the seat. Her head was the only thing that stuck out above the blanket. The movie started and Damon felt like he could fell asleep every second. Cartoons were good inventions…but it was far from the genre he liked to watch. If Ally would watch one of his favorite movies, she wouldn't dare to come out of the house anymore…for weeks.  
Bambi teetered on his feet, stumbled over anything that laid in his way and then his little rabbit friend, Thumper, appeared on the screen. That one was lucky that Stefan wasn't in the neighborhood, otherwise he wouldn't look so cheerful.

Ally shrieked with laughter when Thumper got punished by his mother. "Thumper…What did your father tell you…" God, how did they invent it?  
He shook his head as he had trouble suppressing a yawn. The film went on and the further it went, the more Ally's attitude began to change. The blanket was already up to her eyes, which had grown with fear.

He looked back at the screen and saw a flock of crows that came flying out of the woods, wild twittering that the man was there.

Oh, God…she was scared.

Ally suddenly grabbed him and hid her head in his shirt while he had no idea what he had to do.

"Ally?"

"Yes?" she asked.

"What's wrong?"

"It's scary."

"If it's scary, then why are you watching it?" he asked as if it was a very logical question.

"It's my favorite movie," she said," but I don't like the hunters…they are really scary."

He sighed, little girls were just the same as adult girls. There was no way in understanding them.

"Wouldn't it be better if you went to sleep?"

Ally raised her head, her eyes were tired and it looked like she wasn't in the mood to start a discussion this time.

She held out her arms towards him, indicating that she wouldn't walk the whole way to her bed, so…he carried her up the stairs.

"Where are you sleeping?" he asked when he realized that there was no spare room in the Gilbert house…except the room of Elena's parents…but that room was off limits.

"Elena's room," she said as she unnecessarily pointed to the door, where Elena's room was.

He pushed the door open, flipped the light on and put Ally down on the kingsize bed. She immediately crawled under the thick blankets and when he looked at her…she seemed so small in that cloud of down…maybe because she was…small like a little bird.

He had already turned back to the door and was just about to cut out the light when he heard her soft voice again.

"Damon?"

He turned to face her and he saw how she doubted whether she would ask something…or not.

"Yes?" he asked cautiously, but friendly.

"Can you read a bedtime story…please?"

**So…how did you like it? Please let me know. The next chapter will be up soon but after that it will take a bit longer…I guess, because the examination period starts Monday…and it lasts for two weeks…so I don't know when I'll have time to write…we'll see. Anyway…stay tuned.**


	7. Bedtime story

**Chapter seven**

**Bedtime story**

**Hey there, I'm back with the next chapter. I know that it took a while, but I don't have a lot of time for the moment. I' m too busy with freaking out about the examinations. Anyway because I've let you guys wait, I have written a slightly longer chapter. See, I'm not that mean .**

**Btw, I've seen Evanescence live this week and Amy Lee is simply amazing! They rocked…somehow it gave me some courage for the examinations (weird, I know) and to write of course…  
Have fun reading!  
Moonwolflove**

_Previous_

"_Damon?" _

_He turned to face her and he saw how she doubted whether she would ask something…or not. _

"_Yes?" he asked cautiously, but friendly. _

"_Can you read a bedtime story…please?"_

Damon looked at her as if he hadn't heard her quite well. Had she really asked him to read her a bedtime story? Or did he start to become deaf? The first seemed more likely. He didn't know a lot of children. Let alone of little girls, but he did know that they were all packed up by stories. Some kind of weird obsession which would be replaced by boyfriends, make-up and God may know what else, when they became older.

"So…you want me to tell you a story?" he asked to be sure.

Ally nodded softly, with a pleading brilliance in her eyes that he could barely resist.  
He ran a hand through his hair and said on a defeated tone: "Okay…what do you want me to tell you?"

She shrugged with a small, happy smile on her little oval face. He walked towards her and dropped himself on the bed, next to her. He folded his arms behind his head and looked at her with a grin. "So…I've got to tell you a story…but you don't have an idea about what?"

She shook her head.

"Dad told me a lot of stories…those were beautiful, but mom always tells me scary things. They scare me and then I can't sleep…but I don't dare to tell her."

Her face fell down and in her eyes a sorrow appeared. It was obvious that she missed her dad more than once; almost with every good memory she mentioned.  
Actually it was weird how conscious she was at such a young age.

"What scary things, dear?" he asked then, interested. Somehow he had a feeling where this would go, cause Ally's mom was the sister of John and Grayson Gilbert…and it would be very strange if she was involved in their little family secret.

But what had she told Ally?

Ally stared at her hands, as if she had written her answer on them.

"Vampires," she said then with a hitch in her voice.

Yep, exactly what he had expected. So predictable.

"I don't like them…they are mean and evil…and I'm scared of them."

You have no idea, he thought gloomy.

If he showed Ally for one second what he really was…then she would probably drop dead of fear. She would have a cardiac arrest…or become crazy…or worse…she would loathe him forever. And how much he liked to deny it…he would feel terrible if that happened, cause somehow he had started to like the girl.

"Please, don't tell a horror story. I don't like them," she said as she laid her head on her pillow and watched him from under her blanket.

Damn…what did he have to tell? He had no clue what parents used to tell their kids…maybe fairytales? He knew nothing about those. Little red riding hood…that was the story about that girl with the long hair, right?

Agh…forget it, he thought. No fairytales.

Suddenly a bell ringed in his head. It probably wasn't the best idea he ever had, but it was the only story he could tell her. Although he doubted whether she would want to listen to it.  
Vampires and stuff.

"Ally…what if I told you that I know a story…but…"

"But what?" she asked suspiciously.

"But…It's about vampires."

She took a deep breath as if she wanted to scream a very loud "no", but she didn't and blew it out again in one stroke.

"Is it scary?"

"Not really," he answered truthfully.

She seemed to think about it for a few seconds, with a finger pressed against her pursed lips…there was that cute gesture again.

"Okay," she said then. She crawled towards him, nestled her head against his chest and grabbed his shirt with her little fingers. It was one of those moments where Damon didn't know what to do. So he gently put an arm around her shoulders and brushed her hair softly.

"So…," he murmured a little bit nervous. He had never had to read a story to a little girl…after all, this wasn't the first best fairytale. It was the story of how it was possible that he and Stefan were still around. It was the story of how a woman had changed their lives…about how she had ruined everything. His relationship with Stefan, his life and his heart.

The words he wanted to say didn't form that easy as he had thought.

"Once there were two brothers," he began, immediately noticing that fairytales started the same way. Damn it, he didn't want it to sound that way. The story he was about to tell had nothing away from those dreary happy-ending tales.

But…he had already started…so he wouldn't do that all over again.

"They were best friends, inseparable and always there to help each other. The oldest…and most handsome one, "he added with a grin, "went to the army, cause at that time, the civil war was raging. The youngest…"

"Can we give them names?" Ally interrupted while looking up at him with those big, brown doe eyes.

He was a bit confused but said: "Of course, sweetheart. How would you like to call them?"

She thought for a moment and the silence was almost thickening the air. As if you could actually start to feel it.

"Damon," she said then. "One should be called Damon."

Ironic.

"Which one?" he asked with a smile, fully expecting that she would give the name to the youngest.

But he should have known that expectations never became the truth with Ally.

"The oldest one," she said self-confident.

Well…he couldn't complain about it.

"And the youngest one?" he asked then. There was no way that she would reply Stefan.

"Steven," she said and she must had seen the look on his face, cause she added: "Not a good name?"

"Oh, no, it's a very good name," he said quickly…and it looked amazingly similar to "Stefan".

"Why "Steven", honey?"

"My daddy was called like that," she said quietly.

Oh, that explained a lot and it blew the idea that Ally could have been a clairvoyant, out of his mind. It was just coincidence. But still…the association between her dad and Stefan…it wasn't right. After all, Stefan himself was still a big, grumpy child.

"Tell me more," Ally urged.

"Okay, the youngest, Steven, stayed with his family. One day a beautiful lady moved into the family house. Her name was Katherine Pierce."

It felt strange to mention that name in the same row as beautiful…cause she was no longer that way…in terms of personality.

"Steven quickly fell in love with her…and then Damon returned from the war. He also fell in love with her and the two brothers started to compete for her attention. Katherine was very aware of the fact that they would do everything for her. The brothers didn't know that she was stringing them along. She let them believe that she loved each of them and told them her dark secret. She was a vampire."

Ally cringed at that word and her grip tightened on his shirt. He rolled his eyes and continued:

"Damon and Stefans father was a person who had a lot of influence in the town council. He and the other founding families were the only people who knew of the existence of vampires…and they were fully aware of the presence of those creatures in their little, peaceful town.  
Steven was scared of Katherine's true nature and his love for her was gone…but she hypnotized him which made him love her again. Damon was truly in love with her and he didn't care if she was a vampire or not. On the contrary…if he had to become a vampire to be with her forever, then he would. But soon after Katherine had showed what she was, she got captured. The council wanted to kill her together with the other vampires. Steven and Damon…"

He paused for a moment and threw a glance at Ally. "Can you actually follow, cause it's quite difficult."

"It's alright. I understand most of it," she said, "Please continue."

"Steven and Damon tried to save Katherine, but they were both shot by their own father."

A sigh of disapproval on Ally's side.

"Not long before they were shot, Katherine had fed them her blood and because of that they came back…as vampires."

He decided to leave the part of the transition out of it, cause if would only complicate matters and he already doubted whether she could follow or not.

"Damon promised his brother an eternity of misery and not long after that they decided to go their own ways. A lot of years past and they met again. Steven had fallen in love with another girl; he was happy and Katherine was more or less forgotten. But then both brothers discovered that she was still alive. She returned to the city to win Stefan back, cause he was the only person she had ever truly loved. She told Damon that she never loved him and left him with a broken heart.

That was more or less how it had all happened…of course he had left the piece about Elena and the fact that she was the doppelganger (and a lot of other things) out of it. Too difficult to explain…too painful.

"I don't like her...Katherine…she's so self…selfish," Ally said with difficulty.  
"Poor Damon. She doesn't deserve him. He has done wrong things…but he's a much better person than she will ever be."

Damon felt a lump in his throat at those words. Tears were stinging in his eyes, but he fought against them. Those were no tears of pain…it were tears of realization. Realization that even a little girl had seen through Katherines beauty and discovered her selfish, evil, mean side, then before he had done. She had seen the bitch that Katherine really was.

But what hit him the most was the fact that nobody had ever told him before that he was a better person than she was. Ally didn't realize that Damon from the story was the same Damon as who was now sitting beside her, but despite that, her words had more meaning for him than she would ever be able to imagine.

Ally wasn't aware of the look in his eyes. No…it was obviously that she was about to fall into a deep sleep. She yawned, snuggled her head into his chest again and closed her eyes.

"Good night, Damy," she whispered softly.

He smiled, kissed the top of her head and whispered back: "Good night, sweetheart."

**So…how did you like it? I had this in my mind for a pretty long time and I hoped it worked out well. Please, let me know what you think about it.  
I'll do my best to update soon, but I don't have a lot of time. At this time, it's already 1,00 am and I can't continue doing that during the weeks, otherwise I'll have to make my exams with a zombie face…and that wouldn't end very well…**


	8. Defending Damy

**Chapter eight**

**Defending "Damy"**

**Hey there, I'm back with the next chapter I know it has taken a while, but I'm in the middle of the examination period, so…I hope you forgive me. First of all I would love to thank cdaye8184! She has corrected my mistakes in this chapter and it helped me a lot Btw, her stories are amazing, make sure you check them out  
Second I would want to thank all of you for reading this story. You guys are awesome.  
Have fun reading!**

**Moonwolflove**

_Previous_

_She yawned, snuggled her head into his chest again and closed her eyes._

"_Good night, Damy," she whispered softly._

_He smiled, kissed the top of her head and whispered back: "Good night, sweetheart."_

Damon had watched Ally sleep for a while, but after some time he had been too tired to keep his eyes open. His mind was somewhere on the edge between consciousness and sleep; aware of the sounds around him, but he dozed off to much to know where they came from.

The only sound that was able to reach his dark dream world was the sound of Ally's heartbeat, gently pounding in his ears.

He wandered through the darkness that his subconscious had made for him and he came across some bad memories that were flashing around him. He tried to ignore them in the best possible way. This was a ritual he had to undergo almost every night. Things he had tried to forget, haunted him in his sleep. Almost every night…except when he dreamed of Elena. In his eyes, she seemed like an angel who was able to scare all those evil things away. Those were the only nights where he found peace. This time Damon knew that he was dreaming, perhaps because one side of him was still quite aware. After all. he had to take care of Ally. What if she fell out of the bed? Or if she started sleepwalking? He had once seen that on TV…and according to him, sleepwalkers were a danger to themselves. They really had no idea what they were doing in their sleep.

The darkness of his mind was replaced by the semi-darkness of Elena's room, when he noticed another noise that didn't sound like Ally's heartbeat. It was completely different. He woke up, looked around the room, but didn't see anything special…the moon fell in a circle on the floor; white and so bright that it was almost unrealistic.

The noise had vanished and the silence hung around him like some kind of thick cloud.

Must have been the house, he thought. Houses did make noise too.

But they didn't walk…and they certainly didn't make a noise that sounded like footsteps. There was somebody downstairs.

He decided to take a quick look…you never knew…

He wanted to get up, but realized that Ally was still lying with her head on his chest. If he didn't pay attention, he would have waked her. He grabbed one of the thousand pillows that were lying on Elena's bed, gently lifted Ally's head and put it down again on the velvet pillow. She sniffed and for one moment he thought she was awake…but then she turned, still in a slumber.

She was in a beautiful land now…in a land with unicorns and pixies and all the other fairytale creatures kids were so amazed with.

He sneaked out of the room, went down stairs, and followed the direction of the noise. The footsteps were coming out of the living room…

"Ouch, damn it," he heard the familiar voice say. He would recognize it everywhere.

Elena…it was just Elena…nothing life-threatening…well…not in his opinion. She probably had run into something. Poor humans, they were really blind in the darkness.  
The light flipped on and Elena started to scream, deafeningly. He realized after a millisecond that she must have been scared by his presence. She couldn't have impossibly heard him…there was no way she could have known that he was in the same room as she was.He quickly put a hand to her mouth and held a finger to her lips.

"Sshhtt," he hissed as silently as possible, after which he removed his hand.

"Damon! You scared the hell out of me!"

"Oh, sure I did. You had to see your face. It was all….aaggh," he grinned while mimicking a scared person's expression.

"It's not funny," she said angrily as she hit him against his arm. "Where's Ally? I swear that if something happened to her because of you then…" She didn't finish that sentence, but he knew more or less what she had intended to say. She would never forgive him…or want to see him again…or she would personally drive a stake through his heart.

"Relax," he said, but it had only made her angrier.

"Relax? Seriously? Ric called half an hour ago to tell me that Ally ran off and I'm supposed to relax?"

Ric…he couldn't have known. The traitor…You couldn't trust anyone anymore these days. He frowned. When had he ever trusted someone before?

"She didn't exactly run off," he said, putting quotation marks around the words as he spoke. "She only went out for an hour."

Elena folded her arms across her chest and stared at him angrily. God, her eyes radiated an attractive energy…She was so beautiful when she was angry…not that she wasn't every other second of the day. She seemed like a nemesis who was about to torment him. It made him feel guilty. But why would he feel that way? Ally was fine, safe and sound in her bed, dreaming about fairies and princesses. It couldn't be better than that, right?

"So she did run away? Oh, God, this is the last time I'm letting you take care of her."

Six hours ago he would have been very happy with those words, but now they felt like a threat. He wouldn't mind to take care of Ally again. On the contrary, he would love it. Because he had to admit he had started to like the little girl. She had found a way to his heart, that thing in his chest he had thought to be of stone and nonexistent.

"Where is she? You've brought her back home, right? Or not? Oh, no, Ally…", her voice changed into muttering and Damon felt a bit offended by the fact that she immediately thought the worst. For God sake, he wasn't the worst thing that could happen to Ally.

"Elena, she's fine," he spat through her murmurs. "She's sleeping."

Elena abruptly stopped and sighed in relief while putting a hand to her heart.

"Thank god".

"Oh…I think we'll have to make a little adjustment," he said when he heard the familiar noise pounding in his head.

He turned to Ally, who stood around the corner of the hall. She seemed a bit startled, afraid that she would be punished because she had been eavesdropping.

Damon motioned to her with a reassuring smile. She came closer, cautiously, and then stopped next to him while looking at Elena with a guilty look in her brown, doe eyes. She wobbled back and forth on her feet, her arms folded on her back. Jeez, she was so cute.

"Lena…I ran off myself…it's not Damy's fault," she said softly while taking Damon's hand in hers.

Elena watched her with a glance that could be described the best as confused- probably because of Damon's nickname- but it soon changed in compassion.

"Why, Ally?"

"I wanted to visit my daddy," she answered and Damon felt how her little fingers tightened their grip on his. She didn't like the "daddy" subject…it caused her too much pain.

"Oh, honey…why didn't you wait till I was back? We could have gone together…tomorrow perhaps. You are staying for a while, so we certainly would have found some time…Besides…why did you go alone? Why didn't you go with her?" Those last words were directed to Damon.

"Oh, is it already that late? I guess I had better go home," he said, ignoring her question.

Elena shook her head, bent down her knees and said "Come on, Ally. You should be in bed already."

Now it was Ally's turn to shake her head. Her long, brown curls jumped around her little face.

"I want Damy to tuck me in," she said softly, as if she was afraid to hurt Elena.

"Oh, okay," she said a bit crestfallen, but it disappeared as fast as it had come. "I think you've conquered someone's heart…Damy."

Damon rolled his eyes in exaggeration. She would keep calling him like that for the next six weeks…then she would become tired of it and eventually she would drop it. Six weeks…he could handle that.

"Come on, sweetheart. You've got to go back to dreamland," he said with a grin as he scooped Ally in his arms. She giggled and swung an arm around his neck.

Elena could hardly contain her laughter. She probably wondered how it could be that he and Ally got along so well.

Not weird, Damon thought. After all, he still didn't know it himself.

Back in the room he put Ally down on the bed for the second time that evening…and silently he hoped that she would stay there this time…he didn't mind to tuck her in, but even he had his limits.

He pulled the sheet over her and she threw her arms over it, while her big eyes were searching for his.

"Damy?"

"Yes?"

"Do you want to stay with me," she asked silently. "Please?"

He sighed…how could he resist so much cuteness? Besides, Stefan wouldn't miss him if he didn't come home tonight, so it wouldn't be much of a problem. The only thing he had yet to do was to kick Rics ass. But he could always do that later. Cause right now this little darling needed him …and he was inclined to do her bidding.

He took his place on the bed, allowed Ally to lay her head on his chest again and gave her a kiss on her head, after which she fell asleep…just like a little angel.

He was wide awake, listening to her breathing as it began to slow down.

Ally was already in a deep sleep when the door opened with a creaking sound. Elena looked up, surprised that he was still in the house and then he smirked "Sorry, Elena, but I guess you'll be sleeping on the couch tonight".

**So…how did you like it? I hope it wasn't too boring.  
Anyway, I'm still planning how this story will continue…but I already have a few ideas in my mind.  
Stay tuned if you want to know what will happen next  
Oh and I would love it if you guys took some time to review. It helps me a lot.  
Thanks **


	9. The dream

**Chapter nine **

**The dream **

**Hey there, I'm back with the next chapter. I know it took a while, but I didn't have a lot of time lately, so…forgive me…please. Anyway, I love you guys, for reading, reviewing, adding me to your favorite stories/authors list and alerting! I would love to thank ****cdaye8184, who truly is an amazing person. She corrects my chapters and adds some things here and there. Check out her stories, cause she's a real artist when it comes to writing.  
Moonwolflove**

_Previous_

_He took his place on the bed, allowed Ally to lay her head on his chest again and gave her a kiss on her head, after which she fell asleep…just like a little angel._

_He was wide awake, listening to her breathing as it began to slow down._

_Ally was already in a deep sleep when the door opened with a creaking sound. Elena looked up, surprised that he was still in the house and then he smirked "Sorry, Elena, but I guess you'll be sleeping on the couch tonight"._

Damon experienced a moment of déjà vu. It was the second time that night that he had watched Ally sleep. It was weird, but it didn't bore him at all….it was rather a kind of rest for his spirit. As if Ally shone all her calmness on him. He turned his head a little…his eyes were heavy…maybe he should try to sleep a bit….that would be the fourth time today.

And it would also be the fourth time that something came between them.

Ally suddenly began to kick all around her wildly; her hands were clenched into fists and tiny beads of sweat were dripping off her forehead, sliding to her neck.

'Ally?" He was surprised by how worried his voice sounded but Ally did not hear it regardless if she was worried or not.

"Noooooooooo," she screamed loudly. "Nooo…." The clamor died away, turning into heart-rendering sobs. She grabbed his shirt as large glistening tears began to fall freely down her cheeks. Damon didn't know what to do…he couldn't let her suffer so badly, even he wasn't that mean.

But what could he possibly do? He couldn't throw a bucket of water in her face could he? Then a little lamp flashed on and off on the edge of his thoughts. There was something that he could do but he wasn't sure whether he would succeed or not. He remembered the time where he had caused a nightmare on Stefan; the nightmare in which he had tried to kill Elena. He was sure that it had scared the hell out of him…and that meant that it had been very realistic. He could manipulate dreams…to show things that weren't real but realistic enough that there was no way to make a distinction between them and the real world.

He could take a look in Ally's nightmare, maybe he could do something to change it…make it a little happier. He focused on her mind, on the gray, fearful aura that hung around her, and soon he found himself in the world that Ally's head showed him. At the first sight there was nothing unusual to notice. It was just a small town…it even was a bit similar to Mystic Falls with all those red, old buildings. He looked around and saw Ally, standing on the porch of a small, white house.

She shouted to a man, probably her father, who sprinted to the car, next to the house. He didn't hear her. "Dad no, please don't go! You won't come back," she cried. But the man didn't listen. The car roared as it sprang to life and disappeared around the corner of the street. Ally cried profusely, she sank to the ground, swung her arms around her knees and wiggled back and forth.

"Ally?" She looked up, her eyes red with tears.

"Damy?" she asked in disbelief, as she wiped the tears away with the sleeve of her sweater. "What are you doing here? I'm dreaming…I just know…so how can you be here?" He shrugged his shoulders while sending her a small smile.

"Apparently you miss me. I got a weird vibe that you wanted me here, so here I am" he grinned. She frowned a bit, as if she wouldn't even consider it…missing him.

"Strange," she finally brought out, as he sat down beside her.

"So…why those tears, angel?" He asked, like he didn't know it yet. Ally looked at her hands, absently fiddling with a bracelet.

"Daddy was called to a fire, the same fire as …as…" As the one in which he died. Poor child, memories could be so cruel. "I couldn't stop him…he didn't hear me…like I wasn't there," she whispered with tears shining in her eyes.

"Dreams aren't real, Ally. Dreams don't alter the reality. You must learn to life with the fact that he's gone," he said softly hoping that he didn't say the wrong thing. She had to know the difference but the last thing that Damon wanted to do was upset her even more.

"I know," she said with her head down. He sighed. Dreams could not change reality, but they could soften it and make it more bearable. Until the very moment he had been a tourist, wandering through Ally's mind; seeing the world her subconscious showed him. But now the time had come to change some things in this nightmare.

"Would you feel better if you had the chance to talk to him once more in this dream?" He added, because there was no way to bring the dead to life, well normally.

"Yes," she whispered. "Yes, I think I would." Those words were enough. He took over her dream and kept pulling the strings like a puppeteer with a puppet. He could do everything with the dream, he was aware of the smallest things in this dream world. From the smallest plant, to the people who passed by. But he didn't do anything with them…instead he formed a picture in his thoughts of the man he had just seen. This until the person in his head had become as realistic as a photo. After that he manipulated the dream and suddenly a perfect copy of Steven appeared across the street. "Looks like your wish comes true," he said, while he gave Ally a tap on her shoulder and pointed to the man across the street.

She turned her head disconsolately in that direction, but when she saw her father standing there, with open arms and a radiant smile, her mouth crept up in an insane laugh. She jumped up and rushed towards him, falling into his arms.

Steven lifted her up and swung her around, until they were both dizzy from the motions.

Damon watched with a smile. He didn't have to do more than that other than wait, and watch Ally be happy one last time with her father. He leaned against the wall of the house and figured that he should keep his mouth shut about this; otherwise Elena and Stefan (little brothers were capable of everything) would remind him off it over and over again. Remind him how he, in a weak moment, had done something sweet (yuck, he hated that word) for this little girl. He wasn't sweet…not to everyone…and he certainly didn't want to create the impression that he was a good guy because he wasn't. Maybe he had a friendly side deep down in him but nobody who had to know that.

Ally had taken Stevens hand in hers and together they started to walk towards Damon.

"Look, daddy, this is Damy. My deeeeeaaaarest friend," she said as she stretched the word.

"Damy, huh?" Steven said as he stuck out his hand. Damon laughed shortly, climbed onto his feet, shook his hand and said: "Kids, they have a nickname for everyone. The name is Damon."

He had thought that the conversation would stop after that, because he controlled this dream…and Steven was part of it. He was formed after Ally's memories…of what he had seen. Steven was supposed to be superficial.

"I know who you are," Steven said with a smile. His voice was pure, filled with genuine friendliness. "I'm grateful for what you've done for my daughter. She needs someone now…now that I'm gone."

Damon felt his eyes widen with astonishment. There was no possibility that Steven could know what had happened in the real world. He was part of the dream…able to carry a conversation and to say what Ally wanted to hear, but unable to know things like that. Something wasn't right. "Don't look at me like that, Damon," Steven said softly when Ally wasn't looking. "I know what you're thinking and you're right. I'm not part of this dream. I have taken the place of the Steven you created." Damon didn't get it…if he isn't the shallow, "part of the dream" Steven, than who was he?

"How…" he began but Steven interrupted him abruptly.

"I'm a ghost. I'm on the other side, Damon. The only way to communicate with living people is through dreams."

"How did you know I would give her that dream?"

"Damon, I think it's better if I don't explain all these difficult issues. It would just complicate matters." Yeah…more complicated…he already didn't understand it… So he nodded, and then they both looked at Ally, who stared at them with wide, brown eyes.

"I'm so happy daddy. This is the best dream I've had since…well…you know," those last words she added quietly. "Thank you, daddy," she gave him a big hug and then she turned to Damon. "Thank you for being here, Damy." She jumped into his arms and swung her tiny arms tightly around his neck.

"You're welcome, Ally. But…I think I have to go. This is your dream, not mine. You should go and spend the rest of it with you dad. I'm not going anywhere. You can always talk to me later."

"Yeah…but I don't want you to leave," she said softly.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll be back when you wake up."

"Do you promise?" She asked, her large eyes boring up into his.

"I promise" He found himself whispering back.

**So…how did you liked it? I almost reached the thirty reviews…who's going to help me reach that point? It would make me really happy and it would be a good start for my summer holiday  
Thanks for reading and stay tuned if you want to know what will happen next!**


	10. The moonstone

**Chapter ten **

**The moonstone **

**Hey there, I'm back with the next chapter, which is a slightly longer one. I hope you guys have fun reading. Btw, thanks a lot for reading, reviewing, alerting and adding me to your favorite author/stories list. It truly gives me the courage to continue what I like to do: writing. I would love to thank my beta, ****cdaye8184, who is an inspiring person and a very talented author. Check out her stories, you'll see what I mean.  
Moonwolflove**

_Previous_

"_Yeah…but I don't want you to leave," she said softly. _

"_Don't worry, sweetheart. I'll be back when you wake up."_

"_Do you promise?" She asked, her large eyes boring up into his._

"_I promise" He found himself whispering back. _

He could have sworn that he had heard Steven whisper "thank you" before he was suddenly in the real world again. Nothing had changed. The night remained the same and the moon still shone through the window as brightly as it did before. Wait…there was something that had changed.  
The expression on Ally's face, which had first been distorted with grief and pain, was now a happy smile. Somehow, he had known it would work; though he had not expected that ghosts were able to appear in dreams. That had been a total surprise to him. Steven was the living –wrong choice of words- proof. Well…did it matter? He was with her…and it made her happy…it couldn't get any better than that, could it?

"Damy?"

A little tap on his cheek.

"Damy?" The soft, little girl's voice was compelling.

"Damy, you're impossible," she said and Damon's mind was awake enough to find it funny. He opened his eyes and saw how Ally looked at him; big brown doe eyes that bored into his, her mouth transformed into a pout and her arm firmly folded over the other. He really had to do his best not to laugh out loud….she really looked like Elena when she was angry.

"Finally…you looked just like sleeping beauty," she said as she jumped out of the bed and started to pull on his arm.

"A, sleeping beauty is a girl. The last time I checked, I am not a girl… And B, some people simply like to sleep, and I am one of them." He chuckled briefly "Just because you're able to jump like a kangaroo all day long, doesn't mean I can do the same."

"I can teach you," she said as a smile appeared on her oval face.

"Sure you can," he said as he rolled his eyes and turned away.

"Oh, come on, Damy," she begged as she tried to pull him out of bed…without much success. "Please, stand up," she folded her arms under her chin and looked him straight in the eyes, giving him that "I'll convince you anyway" look. "Please?"

He rolled his eyes again, knowing that she would remain there until he took a step out of the bed. "Fine," he said with a small smile, there was no way he could be annoyed by her anymore.  
He caught her in his arms, which she had not expected.

"Damy," she giggled, while he swung her around in his arms. When they entered the kitchen, Elena looked up…worried.

"Damon, watch out…You'll make her fall," she said while she tried to take Ally from him. It would be an understatement if you said that she failed in her attempt to do so. He wasn't going to give into Elena's weariness so easily. He was beginning to get good with Ally, he'd prove it.

"Relax, Elena," he said. "I really won't let her fall. What kind of adult do you really take me for? A clumsy fool?"

"Oh, you really don't want to know that," she said as she walked to the cupboard and started to place dishes on the table. He would scare the hell out of here…and it wouldn't even take much to do so.

"Okay, Ally," he whispered. "You and I, we're going to scare the wits out of Elena." Ally chuckled, clearly interested in the plan.

"Good, don't be scared, okay?" She nodded, but the fact he told her not to be scared, didn't put her at ease.

"Hey, Elena. You should really see this."

Elena turned around and her eyes widened with fear when she saw Ally…flying through the air. Damon threw her up in the air and then caught her again, just in time. Then, suddenly, he pretended to miss her. Elena gave a little shriek and shot forward, but Damon caught Ally again, before she even had the chance to hit the ground.  
Ally giggled and laughed when she saw the startled look on Elena's face. Apparently she found it very entertaining. Elena, on the other hand, did not find it so amusing. She looked as if she were about to drive a stake through Damon's heart right then and there.  
Elena gave him a hard blow to his arm and said: "Don't do that ever again! Otherwise I promise you that…"

"Oh, I love it when you are about to promise something…can I make a proposal for a promise?"

"No, you can't," she snarled as he put Ally down on a kitchen chair. "I really thought that…"

"You think too much…Too much thinking isn't good, Elena. Believe me, it makes you crazy. Look at me…wait…did I just say "me"? God, why did I say that? I'm perfect after all. What I meant was…look at Saint Stefan."

She rolled her eyes in exaggeration as she made a sandwich with peanut butter and nutella for Ally. Damon sat down at the table, on the opposite side of Ally, and Elena sat on the corner just so she was able to keep an eye on both of them and make sure neither of them was up to any more funny business. She wasn't really excited to see the "The toddler is flying through the air" joke again. Damon had found her reaction hilarious. Had she really thought that he would let Ally hit the ground? Seriously?

"Oh, Elena," he suddenly said, planning on pushing her buttons a little bit more. "You do have a great bed. I can get used to it. "

"In your dreams, Damon," she said coldly.

"But he is, Elena," Ally said, who had probably misunderstood. "I dreamt about you." Those last words were directed at Damon.

"Really? Wow, Ally, I'm honored," he said with a fake-surprised tone in his voice. That must have betrayed him, because Elena gave him a look that made it clear that they would have a chat about this later.

"Yes," Ally said. "You and dad were there and then you went away and you promised that you would be there again when I woke up…and you kept your promise." She added those lost words with a small smile. Elena smiled a half devilish-half heartwarming smile.

"Oh, so cute Damy," she said.

"Don't make fun of my nickname, Gilbert." She turned around, agitated, and walked out of the kitchen…and suddenly the bell rang. Damon concentrated on the noise and the voices that came from the hall. Saint Stefan had arrived, along with Ric, the traitor. Elena came into the kitchen, followed by both of them.

"Damon," Stefan greeted.

"Brother," he replied and then his eyes slid to Ric.

"Hey, Ric. Did you know that treason was an unforgivable crime in my time? If you did you were severely punished. Hadn't I asked you to shut your mouth against...you know who."

"Yes, and hadn't I asked you to let me know something if you had found Ally?" His eyes narrowed a bit together. He had forgotten all about that but still, damn… a friend didn't betray his friend. Okay, maybe he was a bit unreasonable and maybe he was overreacting a little too much. Ric always had something to throw back. So it wouldn't help anything further.

"I forgot it, okay! What would you've done in my place?"

"I would have simply called like I was supposed to" Ric said with a simply voice.

"Guys," Elena interrupted them. "I've called you together here to talk, not to see you two quarrel with one another."

"Men don't quarrel, Elena," Damon grinned. "Ric and I are carrying on a pleasant chat and simply talking over our disagreements. Isn't that right, Ric?"

"Yeah, what he said." Ric mumbled.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Damon asked then. "Remember that we have a little girl here." He gave a nod in the direction of Ally, who was still busy with her breakfast.

"Katherine has the moonstone and I think we all agree that we need to get it back. So, Bonnie knows how to open the tomb….long enough that Stefan can grab the stone but short enough to keep Katherine inside of it. Rose and I are going to search for Slater, maybe he can give us some more information about Klaus."

"Aka, Mr. Creepy," Damon added with a smirk.

Ric sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Damy, what's a moonstone?" Ally asked while tugging at the sleeve of his sweater.

"Oh, sweetheart, that's very hard to explain, but I'm sure uncle Steffy will explain everything to you if you ask him very sweetly. Just be your usual cute self and he should tell you in the blink of an eye". Ally jumped from her chair and then jumped into Stefan's arms, who hadn't expected that.

"Steffy…what's a moonstone?" Damon covered his laugh with a cough. He had promised his brother an eternity of misery…but this was a lot better.

"Uh," Stefan clearly had no idea how to explain something like that to a four year old child. "It's a very special stone, which has the color of the moon."

"Really?"

"Of course." Ally's eyes widened in disbelief and amazement. I wouldn't be her if she wasn't eager now to see such a stone. She leaned towards Damon and held her arms out to him; a sign that she wanted to be in his arms again. He took her over from Stefan, with a huge smile.

"Well, Steffy, it seems like you aren't made for kids."

"Oh and I suppose you are?" He replied with a tone that said he doubt that amazingly.

"Of course, they love me. Don't you see?" He said as he threw a half-grin to Ally.

Stefan sighed and shook his head slightly. "What will you do with Ally? You can't take her to the tomb." He said as he glanced towards Elena, who opened her mouth to help him on this part.

"Damon, don't get it in your mind to take her to the tomb."

"What's a tomb?" Ally said in between, but her question faded into the discussion.

"You don't take her with you. I don't want Katherine to see her"

"It's not like she can do much though." he threw back. "There is something like an invisible wall that stops vampires from coming out."

"It doesn't matter…I find it a bad idea."

"Worse than leaving her here on her own?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Elena looked at him with a doubting look, but she was about to give in. "Fine…but you don't leave her alone…not even for one second. Do you understand me? I'm serious Damon."

"Yes, boss," he grinned and then he looked at Ally, who patted him on his shoulder, while her big eyes were looking for his.

"What's a tomb?" Damon remained silent for a few seconds before saying:

"It's a kind of room under the ground." It was all he could say, he was unable to explain it otherwise.

"Oh…what's so special about it?"

"You ask way too many questions," he said laughing, as he put her on the floor.

"How is it even possible that she likes you so much?" Elena asked while pushing a strand of her long, chocolate brown hair behind her ear. He wished he could do that in her place.

"Because, Elena…all girls, "he sent her his thousand kilo-watt smile "including little girls, love me."

She shook her head and turned to Ally. "Ally, you're going with the boys, but promise me that you'll stay with Damon. Don't leave his side, okay?"  
Ally clearly didn't understand anything of it, but still nodded obediently, while her hand grabbed Damon's.

"Okay, I'll see you soon again, sweetie," she said as she stroked Ally's head. "Watch her. I wasn't kidding when I said that." It was directed at Damon.

"I know, you're incapable of any form of humor."

She threw him a quasi-evil look. Then she turned to say goodbye to everyone, gave Stefan a kiss (why Stefan?) and then she walked out of the house.

Ric looked in her direction and when he heard the door close, he said: "So, who wants to get that moonstone back?"

**So, how did you liked it? Not too boring I hope?  
Btw, I'm working towards something…stay tuned if you want to know towards what that will be.  
Thanks for reading and don't be afraid to let me know what you thought of it. **


	11. I have a bad feeling about this

**Chapter eleven**

**I have a bad feeling about this**

**Hey there, I'm back with the next chapter. I had a pretty hard time writing this one, but I hope it takes out well. I really want to thank cdaye8184, my beta, who corrects my stories and adds some parts to make it look better than it was before. Check out her stories, I'm sure you'll find them amazing:)  
Thanks to cdaye8184 and LiveBreatheVampires for reviewing almost -if not- every chapter I've written so far and to my dear readers/reviewers, who give me the courage to keep writing. I have a lot more to thank you for, but I'll stop here. Don't want to keep you from reading:)  
Have fun reading!**

**Moonwolflove**

_Previous_

"_Okay, I'll see you soon again, sweetie," she said as she stroked Ally's head. "Watch her. I wasn't kidding when I said that." It was directed at Damon._

"_I know, you're incapable of any form of humor." _

_She threw him a quasi-evil look. Then she turned to say goodbye to everyone, gave Stefan a kiss (why Stefan?) and then she walked out of the house. _

_Ric looked in her direction and when he heard the door close, he said: "So, who wants to get that moonstone back?" _

It was broad daylight, but the forest seemed surprisingly and eerily dark, the trees covered the world below them and there was an atmosphere that couldn't escape them. Especially not Ally, whose eyes shot wildly back and forth, as if a wild animal could jump from the bushes every second. Her hand firmly grasped Damon's; without taking her eyes from the trees. Damon had a hard time suppressing a smile. If he decided to scare her now, she would probably fall over…but he couldn't do that to the poor child. She was already afraid enough without him being a complete idiot.

Stefan, who was leading the way, stopped abruptly. If he had put one step further, he would have fallen…four meters directly into the darkness. The gap to the tomb openly lay in the middle of the woods. It was a true miracle that a random passerby had never accidentally fallen into it…although…that would have been a very stupid passerby. It was a big hole after all…you couldn't miss it.

"You guys can go down," Stefan said with a nod to the hole. "I'll wait here for Bonnie."

Ric nodded, tied a rope around a big tree and prepared himself to descend into the depths.

Ally slowly walked forwards, step by step, and peered over the edge of the hole, almost immediately backing away in fear.

"Damy, that's too deep," she whined softly.

"It looks deep, but it isn't," he said while he stroke her head in a reassuringly manner.

"Really?"

"Really."

"What's down there?" she asked, planning to keep her title of "hundred questions" questioner in honor.

"The tomb," he replied with a simply voice.

"That room under the ground?"

"Yes, that one."

"Are there…spiders?"

"Why? Are you afraid of them?"

She nodded wildly and her eyes grew big…bigger. He had wanted to answer "yes", because that was the truth. It would be weird if there wouldn't be any of those creepy animals down there but if he told her that she would refuse to move another step. So he had to make reality a little bit less scary for her.

"Only little ones, Ally. So little that you're almost unable to see them. They won't harm you."

"Okay," she mumbled, still not very at ease.

She paused briefly, perhaps for about five seconds and then she asked softly: "How do we get there?"

Good question, Damon thought. He couldn't just jump down…she would find it suspicious…but children were gullible after all…so maybe he had to take that little risk and do it in his own way…in vampire style. She wouldn't catch on, she was too young and plus he would be too quick for her to even think anything of it. Moreover, it was a really bad idea to let Ally climb all by herself. His head automatically showed him a few images of what could possibly go wrong…and he didn't like it at all. He shook them out of his mind, took her gently in his arms and jumped, without saying another word. Ally screamed her longs out of her tiny body; her arms gripped him so tightly that even he felt stifled for a moment. Her screams were buzzing through his ears, as if someone was scraping chalk on a blackboard. It was worse than Bonnie giving him a migraine attack. God, he was more than happy that she finally stopped when they were back on solid ground. She looked around her, surprised that he hadn't hurt himself or her, cause of the jump.

"How did you do that?"

"What?"

"You jumped… a really big distance down. We… we didn't get hurt. How?" She stammered, obviously not understanding anything of it.

"I'm good at jumping. I told you it wasn't that deep, didn't I?" Her big brown eyes looked at him in an incredulously manner, but then he saw the change shining through them. He could see the questions she was undoubtedly asking herself…why the hell would she doubt him? He was older than her…much older…and why would he lie to her? He had no reason to do so…did he? He wasn't going to answer the last one, too difficult to explain.

"Yes…okay," she said then, planning to believe his words.

He put her down on the ground and stared into the darkness of the tomb. It was deathly quiet in there… A shadow detached itself from the wall and the slim, perfect body of Katherine Pierce slowly took shape. Her long naked legs (she was still wearing that short dress from the masquerade ball), her small waist, shoulders and eventually her face became clear. It was like he stared in Elena's eyes…a diabolical version of Elena.

"Hi, Damon," she said with her enchanting, seductively voice. The same voice that had been able to mess up his head, a very long time ago. But now…he didn't care about it anymore. Not since those lips had said that she doesn't love him at all.

"Katherine," he said without a hint of a smile on his face. The hatred he felt for her flared in his chest and if his gaze had been lighting, she would have been dead by now.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" she asked indifferently, as she leaned against the wall with her dark eyes staring at him. He could see the difference now…Elena's eyes were chocolate brown, not so dark and a lot of shades warmer. He tried not to think of Elena and turned his thoughts back to the bitch.

"You have something that I want," he said simply as he approached. "And I want you—no; I need you to give it to me." He could almost touch her; he could almost knock that beautiful head of hers against the wall. Almost…but almost was a big step. It was a step between being imprisoned and being free. He knew exactly where the invisible wall was and he absolutely wasn't going to lock himself up for an eternity of misery…with her. Wasting away with her annoying whining in the background…no thanks.

"You mean this?" she asked defiantly as she swung the moonstone back and forth. "Come and get it, beautiful." She smirked toward him holding it out closer to him, but just far enough away that he would have to walk past the barrier to get it. She was playing her stupid little games again, how pathetic.

"How stupid do you think I am?" Damon asked, folding his arms. "I know what you do, Katherine. You try to manipulate and you used to fool me" He held out his finger. "You hear me? Key word there… used. I am done playing games with you; I know all your tricks.

Her lips curled up in a devilish smile and in her eyes a mocking glare appeared. "You really don't want to know the answer to that. I really had you good didn't I? I had you and your brother wrapped around my little finger, neither of you knew what you believe. You thought I was the most precious thing ever."

"Yeah and how stupid were we?" Damon ignored her little babble. "True, but frankly Katherine, I do not give a shit what you think." He said with a small smirk.

"No, that's true," Katherine said while tapping her chin. "You're the little slave of Miss Gilbert now…how could I forget."

"I'm nobody's slave," he snarled evilly. The realization that she was provoking him only came a few seconds later. He didn't have to listen. He could just ignore her, just as simple as he had decided to banish her from his heart. God, after all that time he had loved her, she showed her true being, how she really was…and the burning love he had felt for her, froze. The flame, his love for her, had died without the passion. The flames that went along with that fire were extinguished, and would never resurface again. He would have done anything for her. He had been willingly to give up his human live to be with her forever. Like she had ever cared about that. She never loved him at all, she loved Stefan and she still did. Stefan… It would always be Stefan. Afterwards he hadn't been surprised that she had told him that. She was a selfish, intimidating, spirit-oppressive bitch after all. But with Elena he had hoped all things would be different. He had hoped that she would love him…because that was what he did. He loved her unconditionally. How was it possible that he and his brother were always falling for the same girl? How was it possible that he was always the one who ended up with a broken heart?

He tried to suppress those depressing thoughts, banished them to the furthest corner of his mind and then he turned to Ric. A smirk appeared on his mouth when he saw his friend, who was searching for the ground with one foot, as if he was afraid to fall on his butt. It was pretty funny to see him like that. You'd think a vampire hunter would be able to climb a bit quicker than that.

"Wow, Ric. It only took you about fifteen minutes to descend those four meters," he said with a grin.

"Have a fun time laughing, Damon. My time has yet to come."

"Sure, whatever… believe what you want."

Ally had been busy watching Ric to make sure he wouldn't fall. Damon had been watching her from the corner of his eyes; he was sure she had stayed at the same place the entire time but suddenly, her tiny figure was gone.

"Elena?" He heard her astonished whisper, floating through the air like a feather, almost inaudibly and disappearing into the silence. He had heard it before he realized what it meant. It meant troubles. He hardly dared to turn when he heard Ally's heartbeat accelerate and he practically heard fear leap out of her delicate aura pounding through his head like a large drum.

He could feel Katherine's eyes, burning into his back and a frightening feeling took him over completely. This was her doing, he just knew it. He got a feeling, a feeling that he had failed Elena… he failed to keep her safe. He should have been watching her the entire time. His worst nightmare had come true when he in fact heard her soft, delicate, helpless voice whisper the one single word that shattered his world and made it come apart.

"Damy".

He slowly turned to confirm how horrible his reality had just become within a few mere seconds. Katherine was still there…but she wasn't alone. One of her thin, pale, desiccated arms was placed around Ally's neck, whose eyes were sparkling with pure agony. Her hands pulled wildly at Katherine's arm, struggling for breath and the freedom that never came. Damon felt completely and utterly powerless…what could he do?

**Little cliffhanger…I'm a bit mean, I know. What will happen to Ally? Is she going to be alright?  
Stay tuned if you want to know what will happen next!  
Thanks for reading and let me know what you think about it. Btw, if there are any questions, then don't hesitate to ask me. I'll be happy to answer them:) **


	12. Trapped

**Chapter twelve**

**Trapped**

**Hey, I'm back with the next chapter. I know it took a bit longer and I'm sorry for that. I made this chapter a bit longer…so, please…forgive me. The big question now is: what will happen to Ally? I won't keep you too long from reading, but first I want to thank my Beta cdaye8184, who did a great job in correcting this chapter. She also adds pieces to make it look better than before. Thanks, girl:) Check out her stories, because she's a really talented author. And also a big thanks to you guys. You are my inspiration and courage to continue this story.  
Have fun reading!**

**Moonwolflove**

_Previous_

"_Damy"._

_He slowly turned to confirm how horrible his reality had just become within a few mere seconds. Katherine was still there…but she wasn't alone. One of her thin, pale, desiccated arms was placed around Ally's neck, whose eyes were sparkling with pure agony. Her hands pulled wildly at Katherine's arm, struggling for breath and the freedom that never came. Damon felt completely and utterly powerless…what could he do?_

Damon froze in place. For the first time in his life he felt paralyzed; no longer able to move a step. His eyes were fixed on Ally's. He saw the pain; the agony penetrated through her brown orbs. Big, fat tears rolled down her cheeks and fell into the deep; doomed to silently crash against the ground. He wanted to say something. He wanted to comfort her; tell her that everything would be okay, but his throat was unusually dry and shapeless words kept haunting his mind.

"Damon, why are you so quiet?" Ric asked when he had both feet on the ground and turned towards his friend. Damon didn't answer, thinking that he would see it himself. He heard how Ric hold his breath…yeah; he had definitely seen the scene.

Katherine laughed a devilish laugh. "So…I think we have a weak point here. A weakness of Damon Salvatore…who would have thought that you out of all people" She said emphasizing the word. "Would have a soft spot"?" she said as her grab on Ally's throat tightened.

The little girl squealed in pain and Damon felt how his heart break into a thousand pieces…he had to get her out of there.

"Let her go, Katherine," he growled furious.

"Ah ah ah," she said shaking her index finger, disapprovingly. "That's not how it works, Damon. Let me out and maybe I'll let her live."

"How about a stake through your heart?" he snapped back. "Let her go and I'll consider to let you live." The corners of her mouth grew into a grin and he took a step forward, ready to wipe that smirk off her face.

"Damon," Ric warned, grabbing his arm and it took all his human strength to pull him back. "Wait until Bonnie is here, otherwise…"

Damon interrupted him abruptly with a high pitched voice, filled with anger: "Ric, by the time witchy is here, she'll already have been suffocated!"

Katherine's face distorted into a pout and she said in a defiant tone: "Oh, so you really care about her? How cute. The sweet, worried side of Damon. What is it that you find worthy enough to be nice to her?"

"She's a child, Katherine. You can't do this to her, she doesn't deserve your vengeance." he said. Somehow, he had really hoped that she would understand. Ally was innocent. She had nothing to do with this whole mess. She didn't deserve to suffer like that.

"And I don't deserve to be stuck in here. Let me out," she snapped back stubbornly. "Otherwise I'll put my fangs in her beautiful neck. I'm pretty curious to know how child blood tastes. As you have probably noticed by now, I honestly don't care who I hurt-who I kill. Be it child, adult, old person… I couldn't care less. This little relative of Elena will not be any different."

"Don't you dare," he growled through clenched teeth as his hands unintentionally became fists.

"Try me," she said with a serious face.

"I'll go," Ric said, while taking a step towards the invisible wall, but Damon stopped him.

"No, you won't," he growled. "She'll break you neck in less than a second. You'll be out for God may know how long and then you won't be able to help me."

Ric apparently hadn't thought of that one yet, for he nodded understandably. Nevertheless he was very grateful to his friend that he had wanted to give it a try, but there had to be another way.

"I'm waiting, Damon," Katherine said. He could hear that she started to get irritated. Ally's head began to turn blue and her hands already pulled less on Katherine's arm. Life began to escape her. "Very well," she said with icy voice. "I'm sure that her blood will taste delicious." Her face distorted in the face of her personal demon. Thin, black veins ran under her eyes, which had colored blood red, and her canine teeth lengthened into two dagger-like fangs. She threw her head back, ready to put those daggers in Ally's neck. Damon lost all his control over his anger. Forget the other option; there was no way that she would ever hurt her.

In a flash he jumped forward and pulled Katherine's head back with enormous power so she had to let go of the little girl. She felt onto her knees, wildly sucking in fresh air. Damon knocked her head against the wall with vampire speed…once…twice…three times, until a gaping wound appeared on her forehead and blood started to roll down her cheek.

"Listen Katherine," he said in a dangerously soft voice. "If you dare touch her again, God, I promise that you will forever rot in hell. And I never break my promises. Do you understand me?"

She only let out a deep growl, but kept her lips tightly shut. "Fine, as you want," he said with a small smirk, as he once again hit her head against the wall. It made a sickening sound when it touched the bricks again. He had no mercy with her. Her head would heal all by itself, but Ally had a trauma for the rest of her life…and that while she had nothing to do with this whole situation. And…of course, she could also consider it as a payback for being a total bitch to him. He pulled her head back again, ready to do it again, but she quickly pleaded:

"No, please. I understand. I understand." She begged, cupping her face with her hands.

"Very well, now, give me the moonstone."

"What?" She pretended to look confused.

"You heard me." Damon hissed.

"Forget it." Katherine barked back.

"Oh, so we are going to play it that way? Okay, fine. It's your head, huh. Not mine. And I'm able to continue this for a pretty long time. Very amusing, though I say so myself."

She shot him a deadly look, fire flared in her dark eyes. If she had not been so weak, she would have certainly taught him a lesson…he knew that too well.

But the lack of blood had weakened her and she had not eaten in a while. She didn't stand a chance against him.

"Fine," she reached into a hole in the wall and fished a bright, white stone out of it, which she pressed in his outstretched hand.

"Thank you," Damon said with a smirk. "Catch, Ric!"

He threw the stone in a bow to him and Ric managed to catch it just in time.

Then he rushed to Ally, took her in his arms and rocked her gently back and forth, while she cried against his neck. "Shh, Ally. It's okay. It will all be fine," he whispered softly.

Katherine snorted and Damon threw her a hateful look.

"Who is that?" Ally whispered, as she watched Elena's double from the corner of her eye. "She looks the same like Elena."

"She's nobody important, Ally"

"But she looks like auntie Elena" The sweet scared girl protested.

"Sweetheart, I can assure you she is not Elena. Can't you tell the difference?"

Ally nodded in agreement and wiped off her tears with the sleeve of her sweater.

"Damon?" Damon turned to the familiar voice and saw Stefan, standing on the other side with a pitying look on his face.

"How…" he didn't continue his sentence. His eyes flew to Ally and Damon could already imagine a burning light above his brother's head.

"We'll get you out of there. Bonnie could be here any minute."

"Don't worry about me, Stefan," he said as he walked to the invisible wall and put Ally down beside him. "Listen, Ally. Walk to Stefan, hold his hand and don't let go anymore. He'll look after you."

Ally frowned, puzzled. "Why? You're here. You can look after me."

"I…," he couldn't believe he was going to say this. "I can't get out."

"Why not? You can just walk out." She said simply, her little mind unable to piece together such information.

"No, I can't…I…" he shook his head and looked at Stefan, asking with his eyes if this was a good idea. His brother somehow managed to understand it and he decided to take the task on himself. The task to tell Ally the truth…about their true nature.

"Ally…my brother and I, and that one there," he nodded to Katherine, "we are vampires." All the color she had left drained from her face and her hurt, frightened eyes flew to Damon, who felt his heart break for the second time that day…in small, measly pieces.

"Is that true?" she asked softly, with big doe eyes. He just nodded, not able to find words to say something else. "But…you're not like the monsters in moms stories. You're not mean…and not scary…not anymore. How…why didn't you tell me?" For a little girl, she seemed hurt.

"Because it's better if you don't know anything about it, Ally. Besides, you told me that you were scared of vampires. I didn't want to frighten you."

Ally looked at him doubtfully, while biting her lip. She was undoubtedly busy thinking if she could trust him now she knew what he really was. He saw one of the questions in her eyes. He was still the same person, right? She didn't answer and looked away, towards the invisible wall.

"You can't get out because you're a vampire?"

"Exactly"

"And you knew that? When you came to save me?"

He nodded again in honesty. Ally looked at him briefly and then a warm smile appeared on her lips. She hugged him, hid her head in his shoulder and wrapped her thin arms around his neck. "Thank you," she said softly.

"You're welcome, sweetheart," he replied, "but you should really go to Stefan now. You're not safe with her around." A nod to Katherine.

Ally shook her head. Her long, dark brown curls jumped around her oval face. "No, I'll stay with you. It's my fault you're stuck here." Her eyes looked at him pleadingly, like a puppy, and he immediately knew that he was about to give in. Even though he didn't want to. He just wanted to see her safe on the other side of the wall, with Stefan. He knew he would be the perfect person to keep an eye on her.

"I can't convince you, huh?"

She shook her head again with a small grin plastered on her face. "Nope."

Jeez, sometimes she could be really stubborn…just like him…he only didn't know if that was such a good trait but he was gradually starting to see similarities within them. His stubbornness had often brought him in a lot of trouble. He slumped against the wall and Ally sat down beside him. He wrapped an arm around her and she laid her head on his chest. It was clear that the whole situation took her energy and it didn't take too long before her eyes began to fall and she slipped away into sleep where all the bad things disappeared for now and was replaced with girly kid things. You know, ponies, dolls, handsome princes with blue eyes…

Stefan moved towards them and sat down next to his brother, with only the invisible wall between them. "You know…when I saw you on the other side of the wall, I first thought that Katherine had gone a bridge too far in challenging you and that you had thought her a lesson. I never thought that you would trap yourself in order to save Ally. That was…" he frowned a moment as he tried to find a suitable word. "…noble of you."

"You know me, Stefan. I'm full of surprises," he said with a cynical smile. It was so weird to hear his brother say something like that…to him especially. Most of the time, it was him who was the noble one.

"And sometimes one of those surprises is a good one," Ric joked, who had put himself next to Stefan.

"Sometimes, yes," Damon murmured as he watched Ally sleep and gently swept a strand of her hair away from her face.

"You really care about her, huh," Stefan said, more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah, I guess I do" Damon answered, it had finally dawned on him. He cared, for somebody other than himself. "She reminds me of myself. In a crazy, little girl- like manner," he said with a grin. "She's one of the few girls that was able to conquer my heart and managed to keep it."

With those words he glanced at Katherine, who had overheard the whole conversation and who now rolled her eyes in exaggeration. She was remained convinced that he still felt something for her…even though every feeling he had ever felt for her was gone. Forever.

He ignored her with pleasure and pondered about what he had just said. "Okay, that sounded pretty weird, but you know what I mean," he said then.

"Sure," Stefan said.

"Good to know…just one other tiny thing." Damon turned his head towards his brother and Ric. "If you tell anything of this to Elena, or witchy, or Blondie or I don't know who, then…"

"Then we're dead," He warned bluntly, simply stating the obvious.

Stefan and Ric replied simultaneously. "We already know."

"Yes, nobody can know that Damon Salvatore has a soft side," Ric grinned.

"Because that would kill his reputation," 'normally humorless' Stefan said.

Damon rolled his eyes, the mere fact that little brother was trying to be funny, was already funny enough. They sat there, without any sense of time, in the dark depths of the tomb, with only the sound of the two human hearts in the 'room', waiting for the moment where the solution would come running towards them…

**So…how did you liked it? Please let me know.  
About the next chapter…Next week I'm heading out on a camping trip for two weeks and I don't know if the next chapter will be ready in time. If it's not, then I'm really sorry for the delay. I hope you guys understand.  
Thanks for reading!**


	13. Looks like help has arrived

**Chapter thirteen**

**Looks like help has arrived**

**Hey there, I'm back with a brand new chapter! I know that it has been a while though. Please forgive me for being late. Anyway…I really want to thank you for reading, alerting, reviewing etc. I also want to thank my Beta, cdaye8184. She corrects my chapters and adds pieces to them to make them better than before. She's a great author and a source of inspiration.  
Anyway, I won't keep you from reading any longer.**

**Moonwolflove  
**

_Previous_

"_Yes, nobody can know that Damon Salvatore has a soft side," Ric grinned. _

"_Because that would kill his reputation," 'normally humorless' Stefan said._

_Damon rolled his eyes, the mere fact that little brother was trying to be funny, was already funny enough. They sat there, without any sense of time, in the dark depths of the tomb, with only the sound of the two human hearts in the 'room', waiting for the moment where the solution would come running towards them…_

Time slipped by, without any of them being very aware of it and the oppressive silence persisted. It was making Damon crazy…He was getting crazy about this whole depressing place and about the fact that witchy still hadn't shown up. Ally was totally unaware of his condition and slept calmly. Her breathing was rhythmically soothing with her soft heartbeats. From time to time she would nestle her head more in his shirt, just to continue her peaceful nap and to make soft snoring sounds. It was absolutely adorable…and she was probably the only thing that prevented him from cursing out loud.

"Stefan, where the hell is she?" He asked instead. The realization that he would be stuck here for any longer started to dawn upon him as well as the realization that cursing and screaming wouldn't help.

"I don't know, Damon. Perhaps something came up?" His brother replied.

Ric leaned his head against the wall and said, apart from the question: "A bottle of whiskey would be welcome now."

"True enough, although it doesn't have anything to do with this whole mess," Damon smirked "Besides; Ally is here. I'm not drinking in front of a child Ric."

Stefan's head suddenly shot up and his eyes darted to the edge of the hole. Damon looked up too and heard a noise. It seemed like help had arrived.

"Stefan? Alaric? Damon?" Bonnie's voice echoed through the darkness and collided through the tomb.

"Bonnie, are you able to come down by yourself?" Stefan asked, as he walked into the light.

"I think so." The witch replied. Stay there."

Well…in Damons case that wouldn't be a problem. It took less than two minutes for Bonnie to climb down the rope. Damon was a little impressed, not that he'd ever admit that. He had no idea that the witch was so good at climbing. She had a big bag hanging around her shoulder, which probably contained her stuff for the opening of the tomb.

She glanced at Damon and raised an eyebrow. "This was the very last thing I expected from you," she said. There was not one shred of mockery in her voice…rather a slight hint of doubt. As if what he had done for Ally couldn't be reality. It simply didn't fit him.

"I'm outbidding myself over and over again," Damon grinned, but the grin quickly faded from his face. He was pretty desperate to get out of this cell. Bonnie shook her head slightly, put her bag on the ground and hastily began to display everything that had been in it.

Damon turned his head when Ally began to move. Her brown eyes shot open and she blinked…for a second it seemed as if she no longer knew where she was. Then she got an eye on Bonnie and started screaming her name in joy. "Bonnie!"

"Hi, Ally," Bonnie said with a smile, but it was clear that that smile wasn't very sincere. She obviously ( like Damon) didn't like the idea of the little girl being involved in this mess.

"Did you come to help Damy?" she asked as her eyes darted between her and Damon.

"Damy?" The witch snorted, after which she looked at Damon with a huge grin. "That sounds so cute."

"Skip "the cute stuff" and get me out of here," Damon snapped, he was now really losing his patience. Couldn't everyone tell he didn't want to be there any longer? God. Nobody seemed very rushed, besides himself.

"Okay, fine. Don't lose your temper," Bonnie snapped back rolling her eyes. "I could easily leave any minute so I suggest you try and be a little friendlier"

Damon snorted but quickly shut up.

She fished a silver necklace out of her pocket, took her spell book, then shut her eyes and began to speak in an unknown language. The candles that she had set down everywhere, caught fire and suddenly a gust of wind blew through the tomb. Ally looked at the whole scene with big eyes. It must have been a shock for her, because she was unaware of Bonnie being a witch.

"What's happening?" she asked Damon, while creeping close to him and hiding her head in his shirt.

"Bonnie tries to open the tomb," he said as he caressed her head.

"How?"

"Has your mother ever told you about witches?" He asked, with the intention to explain everything slowly. But Ally was smart for her age and she already understood where this was going.

"Bonnie is a witch?" She asked incredulously. "But those are bad. In fairy tales, they are mean and ugly."

"This isn't a fairy tale, Ally," he sighed. Apparently the fact that he was a vampire had been hard enough for her mind to process….hearing that the best friend of her cousin was a witch didn't really help her.

"So…Bonnie is a good witch?". She asked doubtfully. Damon just nodded and turned his eyes again to Bonnie. The gusts became fiercer and the flames of the torches grew bigger and bigger. Bonnie spoke quickly and flatly, her voice filled the room in a terrifying way and even Katherine was curious about the power that the young Bennett could muster. She went to the invisible barrier in front of her, ready to escape any moment, but Stefan appeared before her and kept an eye on her movements closely.

Bonnie continued to repeat the same words, but it seemed as she was becoming weaker and weaker with every word she said. Her forehead wrinkled with effort, her legs trembled violently and her arms began to shake.

"Bonnie," Stefan said, when suddenly a trickle of blood began to run from Bonnie's nose.

"What's happening to her?"Ric called from the other side. He had climbed up and looked to Bonnie with panic in his eyes.

"She isn't strong enough," replied Stefan with the tone as if he only realized that now. "If she keeps this up, she will end up killing herself!"

"What?" Ric asked in disbelief. "She should stop… now!"

"Bonnie, stop!" Stefan shouted as he grabbed her shoulders. But the girl shook his hands off and stubbornly continued to repeat the spell.

"Bonnie, you have to stop," Ric said now. Suddenly there was a silence. Bonnie's words disappeared as whispers into the silence. For a fraction of a second, she stared ahead of her and then she just fell backwards. Her body slammed to the ground with a dull sound…as she lost conscious.

"Oh, great," Katherine sneered rolling her eyes as she slumped against the wall.

"Shut up, Katherine," Damon snapped. He wasn't really fond of Bonnie, but he had some respect for her. And with that respect came the fact that he was a bit worried about her. Was she okay?

"Bonnie!" Ally jumped up and ran through the invisible barrier, straight to the unconscious girl. She dropped to her knees beside her and tears trickled down her cheeks. Her hand grasped Bonnie's firmly, but her eyes darted to Stefan. "Is she dead?" She asked in a hopelessly lost tone.

"No, she isn't dead," Stefan said reassuringly as he knelt beside her. Ric was standing next to Damon and the four people were all waiting with baited breath till Bonnie would open her eyes again.

The time went by and with every passing minute, Damon saw how Ally was growing more and more nervous. She went back to him and jumped into his arms, tears slid down her cheeks in silence.

"Why is it taking so long?" Damon wanted to give and answer, but he couldn't easily imagine one that wouldn't sound ridiculous. He had no idea why it was taking witchy so long to regain consciousness so he simply shrugged his shoulders.

"She will wake up, right?" Ally sniffed.

"Of course, Bonnie won't leave us in the lurch. She is too stubborn to do that." Hopefully he was right about that. That idea wasn't completely formulated when Bonnie began to move her head back and forth. Oh thank God. A painful moan escaped her throat when she tried to get up. Stefan had to grab her, otherwise she would have fallen again. He wrapped an arm around her waist and put her arm around his shoulder, after which he escorted her to the wall, where she slumped back to the ground.

"Is everything okay?" He asked in his usual, "concerned Stefan" tone. Bonnie hit a hand to her head while her face betrayed that the spell had demanded a lot more of her than she cared to admit.

"It's alright…just a little headache," she said with a weak smile. Then she looked at Damon and he could see the apology in her big eyes. "Damon…I'm sorry. I can't open the tomb…I'm not strong enough." The first thing Damon felt was anger. He wanted to scream and shout that she had to be strong enough, that he would single-handedly destroy this hell of a place if she didn't. But he stopped himself just in time. Bonnie wasn't the one to be blamed...at least she had tried. And he didn't want to send her to death just to get him out of here.

He only nodded understandingly. Ric walked up to her and gave her the moonstone.

"At least we got this one," he said. She took it from him and looked at it with her critical eyes, after which she slipped it into her pocket.

"If you guys agree, then I'll go home. I need to rest before I attempt to destroy this rock." The three men looked at her and all of them nodded shortly.

Stefan began to pick up Bonnie's witchy stuff, as she was still a bit too shaky to do it by herself.

"I'll take you home, because you're worse than when I've drunk too much,' Ric said with a smile. Bonnie grinned and allowed Stefan to take her in his arms, so he could bring her back to Ric's car. In a flash they were both gone, leaving Ric. He shot a compassionate glance at his friend and said encouragingly  
"We'll get you out, buddy."

"I know," Damon said. "Until then I'll stay here, staring at the ceiling. Never knew that gray is such a beautiful color."

Ric shook his head at this cynical reaction and started to walk towards the rope. "I'll be back tomorrow morning with some blood for you…and some food for Ally too ," He added, as he had almost forgotten the little girl. "We don't want that you start to dessicate do we?"

"Obviously not" Damon said.

Ric gave him a last smile and then began to climb frantically. He just reached the top, when Stefan appeared on the other side of the invisible wall.

"We won't give up. We will find a way to get you out."

"I know, brother. Ric said the same thing two minutes ago," he replied.

Stefan nodded understandingly and his face had to endure that doubting look again.

Damon knew that look very well though…even if it may not seem like it…he knew his baby brother really well. Stefan doubted whether he should stay with his brother to give him some company…or leave." "Go, I don't mind. I'll see you later," Damon answered his question, whereupon he turned to Ally.

"You're sure that you want to stay here?" He asked.

"Sure," she said as she grabbed his arm…a grip to never let go.

Stefan smiled. "I'll see you later then"

"I won't walk away, Stefan," Damon smirked. Leave it to Damon to be imprisoned and still have his outrageous humour .

Stefan didn't seem happy with that answer. He realized that he had better mind his words in such situations. He nodded, bent his knees and disappeared out of sight. Now it was only Damon, Ally and annoying Katherine, who he just kept ignoring.

"So…looks like you're stuck in here for another while , huh," Katherine sneered. "As if Stefan will rush to get you out of here. After all…if you're here, you're no longer a threat to his relationship with Elena."

Ally put her hands over Damon's ears and whispered softly. "Don't listen to her. You'll get out of here. Stefan is nice…He's your brother…"

Damon smiled a rare sincere smile and hugged the little girl firmly. She was the only bright spot in this dark underworld. The only thing that prevented him from going crazy.  
She was his only piece of sanity and that's when Damon realized he cared about her a lot more than he was willing to admit before.

**So…how did you like it? This chapter was slightly longer than normal, so I hope I did a good job. Let me know what you thought of it!  
It can take a bit longer till I upload the next chapter…sorry for that.  
Thanks for reading!**


	14. Visits

**Chapter fourteen**

**Visits**

**Hey, I'm back with the next chapter! I'm sorry if I made you guys wait, but I'm going to make it up, because this chapter is a bit longer than usual. See, I'm not that bad, lol.  
Thanks a lot for reading, reviewing, alerting etc. I love you all!  
I also want to thank my friend, cdaye8184, for correcting my story. She also adds pieces to it to make it better than before. She's really talented author. Check out her stories!  
Anyway, have fun reading!**

**Moonwolflove**

_Previous_

"_So…looks like you're stuck in here for another __while __, huh," Katherine sneered. "As if Stefan will rush to get you out of here. After all…if you're here, you're no longer a threat to his relationship with Elena." _

_Ally put her hands over Damon's ears and whispered softly. "Don't listen to her. You'll get out of here. Stefan is nice…He's your brother…" _

_Damon smiled a rare sincere smile and hugged the little girl firmly. She was the only bright spot in this dark underworld. The only thing that prevented him from going crazy.  
__She was his only piece of sanity and that's when Damon realized he cared about her a lot more than he was willing to admit before._

Damon hadn't the slightest idea how late it was, but he suspected that it had to be somewhere past nine. The daylight had slowly, but surely, faded away and the only light that was able to reach the dark depths of the tomb were the rays of the moon. But they came and disappeared at different time behind the clouds. So every now and then... not that it mattered, Damon was engulfed by darkness.

Ally was strangely silent, but he could swear that the grip on his arm grew stronger with every passing minute. She was strong for a little girl, it was impressive.

It was the first time he actually realized that she, unlike him and his improved vision, was as good as blind in this darkness. And with that…with the fact that she wasn't able to see anything, he suspected that she was also terrified. He had once seen a movie with small children who were afraid to go to sleep (Yeah, he had no idea why he had been watching that…the only thing he know was that the movie was now on his black list. The list with "never to watch again" movies). Anyway, those kids believed that there were monsters in the darkest corners of their room. Maybe Ally thought the same…with the only exception that her personal monster who was a very lifelike vampire, named Katherine. And unfortunately, she couldn't awake from that nightmare.

She sighed loudly and looked at him, even though she wasn't able to see him but he could see her and he noticed her shiver."Damy, it's cold here."

Cold…he hadn't noticed it. There were a lot of problems that affected humans, including little human girls, but those weren't of any harm to vampires.

He gently withdrew his arm from her grip, pulled his jacket off and put it around her tiny shoulders. She smiled in the darkness and said softly: "Thank you," after which she snuggled into his leather jacket and leaned back against him staring endlessly into the moonlight, which fell in a big circle on the ground.

"So, Damy. Still a true gentleman to the ladies, I see," Katherine sneered. He should have known that she was still awake. There was no way that she would sleep if she had the opportunity to irritate him.

"Yes, Katherine, only to real ladies, and not to bitches who don't deserve it to be treated with any form of respect…doesn't that sound familiar to you?" His tone was cold, the hate he felt toward her was indescribable.

"Ouch…and I thought we had something special." She pouted. "But just to remind you, _she_ is not a lady. She's a little girl. Just keeping it real."

"That might have been possible a long time ago, if you hadn't only thought of yourself all the time." Damon spat back. "And she's more of a lady than you'll ever be."

"That's what I do, Damon. No matter what, my life will always come first," she snapped angry before putting her hand to her chest, above her dead heart. "Wow. I'm truly offended..." Katherine's voice dripped with sarcasm.

Damon ignored her and said, lost in thoughts of the past: "You know, you owned my heart. You didn't even have to compel me to love you, like you did with Stefan. We could have ran away, we could have travelled the world." He had regretted it the second the words flew out of his mouth. He clearly hadn't been thinking.

He paused, his head filled with images of an alternative universe where he and Katherine were a couple in love. But the images disappeared as quickly as they had come, when he realized that there really wasn't any spark of his former love for her to be found in his heart. He had often said that he didn't care anymore, but right now, he knew right away that he had meant those words. " But God am I ever glad that I've seen through that mistake. I noticed your true colours before it was too late, before you had the chance to manipulate me. You never would have given me your heart as I would have given mine to you. For you…Katherine, are nothing more than a selfish and heartless bitch. And I'm a real fool not to have noticed it sooner. I should have seen you for who you really are the moment I met you."

Katherine was silent and Damon was slightly surprised that she didn't have a few things to throw back. After all, she always wanted to have the last word but once again she surprised him, as words seemed to fail her. In all honesty, what could she say to that?

Ally had listened in silence and now he saw how her eyes had a glimmer of recognition to endure. He knew what she was thinking and he mentally kicked himself in the ass, knowing full well he had some explaining to do to her. "The story of Damon and Steven! Damon is you and Steven is Stefan. And that girl, Katherine Pierce…that's her," she exclaimed in surprise, while pointing at Katherine. "It's because of her that you are vampires…and Stefan…is he in love with Elena?"

Damon nodded in silent, to amazed by how smart Ally truly was. "Katherine came back for Stefan…and she broke your heart." she mumbled.

"You can still remember pretty much of it…it's been a while since I've told you that story." Damon muttered, hoping she had forgot the main parts of it.

"Not that long," Ally said with a small smile. "Besides, I have a very good memory."

"I can see that." He laughed. Damon looked at Katherine, expecting to hear a cynical, mockery laugh every moment, but the sound didn't come. Apparently something in his words, or in Ally's had silenced her.

Damons head shot up when he heard a noise. A beam of orange light shone inside the tomb and behind that light was…Elena.

She held a blanket and a basket in her arms, while the little lamp dangerously moved back and forth between those things.

"Elena!" Ally called out, as she jumped up and ran through the invisible barrier.

"Ally!" Elena screamed, tears almost appeared in her eyes. The stuff he had carried fell to the ground and her arms embraced the little girl tightly as she hid her head against her small shoulders.

"God, you have no idea how worried I was when I heard what had happened! Promise me that you won't ever do that again, do you hear me? Never again," she said.

"I promise," Ally said softly.

Elena nodded and then turned to Damon. Her eyes shone with a strange kind of sorrow and it seemed like she could burst out in tears every second. "You knew that you would be imprisoned and yet you still decided to save her?" The way she said it, it sounded like he had done something that only the holiest saint could do. And Damon wasn't a saint at all.

"Well…some psychopath, and with that I don't mean myself, threatened to kill her. You may think of me what you want, Elena. But I'm not that heartless that I will let a child suffer such a cruel fate. I'm a lot of worse things, but even I have limits." Damon answered honestly although his tone was bitter. Elena always doubted him-always expected the worst.

Elena opened her mouth to say something, but the words didn't form a full sentence in her head. Then she caught Katherine in sight and if she had been a normal human, she had probably scratched her eyes out. "Did you threaten my niece? God, you're really are a monster. The worst I've ever known."

"Scream those words out loud if you want, Elena," Katherine said without looking up. "If you've heard them so many times as I have, then they eventually mean nothing to you anymore. You know what they say: Sticks and stones may break your bones but names will never hurt you. In my case, the sticks and stones won't hurt either but you catch my drift."

"Unfortunately that's the only way I can hurt you," Elena snarled. If there had been another way, she would have made sure that Katherine suffered for what she did to Ally.  
Elena turned her gaze away and looked back at Damon.

"Thank you," she said softly. "For what you've done for Ally. I can't bear the thought of anything happening to her." She looked down at Ally who was clung to her legs, her tiny arms wrapped around Elena's waist.

"You don't have to think about it, Elena," he said as he leaned his head against the wall. "Nothing happened to her and it most certainly won't ever again. Not as long as I'm around." He promised.

Elena nodded; those words seemed to reassure her. "Stefan said Ally was quite stubborn…"

"Yeah, she got that from her cousin," he smirked.

Elena ignored his remark and continued: "He told me that she wanted to stay with you, so I brought some stuff from home."

She threw the blanket over to him and Damon folded it around Ally, who sat already back on her usual spot next to him.

Then Elena put the basket on the floor and shoved it through the invisible wall. Damon pulled the wooden basket towards him and he pulled out a bag of biscuits, which he handed to Ally. She took it eagerly and quickly stuffed a few of the cookies into her mouth moaning in satisfaction. He had forgotten she hadn't eaten in a while. But she hadn't complained about being hungry so it didn't cross his thoughts.

"There are some things in it for the case she got hungry," Elena explained. "There's also a little lamp in it…and oh, Ric passed by and he said that I had to give you a little present to pass the time. It's in the basket."

Damon frowned and took out a bottle of Bourbon. "Good old Ric," he said with a grin. He always knew how to cheer up unpleasant situations.

"And I thought you would need this too," she hold up a bottle, filled with a red liquid and Damon saw how Katherine's eyes started to widen when she caught sight of it.

Elena threw the bottle towards him and he quickly took a sip. Apparently he had needed it more than he had first thought, because the bottle was already half empty.

Elena knelt beside him, on the other side of the wall, so that she was able to look him in the eyes. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it softly, while her voice, full of promise, said: "I'll get you out. Even if I have to move heaven and earth for it. I'll promise you."

Damon sent her a sincere smile and murmured softly: "Thank you."

Then she stood up and said: "Well…see you tomorrow then?"

"I won't walk away," he said, repeating the same as he had said against Stefan. She rolled her eyes excessively and began to climb along the rope. Typical Damon.

Damon watched her disappear into the darkness and silence returned to the tomb. Ally had watched too, while eating the last cookie from the bag. She turned her gaze to the moon again and then to Damon, who she could see again because of the lamp.

"You're in love with her, aren't you?" Ally asked quietly, dropping her head and staring at the ground.

"With who?" He asked, confused by the overwhelming question.

"With Elena." She mumbled.

It felt like someone had beaten him hard in the face, for he was truly surprised to hear those words come out of Ally's mouth. How did she get it? How could she, as a little, four year old girl, know that he was in love with her cousin? How was she able to see it, while Elena clearly didn't.

"You don't have to say anything, because I know that I'm right," she said with a small, arrogant grin. It was adorable to see her act like a smarty pants but he couldn't help but notice she seemed different since she said those assumptions out loud.

"Suppose I am," he said, intending to play along. "Then what makes you so sure about it?"

Ally bit her lip, as if that was a very difficult question to answer. "I'm little, not blind, Damy. I see how you look at her. She makes you laugh. And although she can be annoying sometimes…" he laughed at the fact that she just dared to say that her cousin could be annoying, "yet you always watch her in the same way. I'm four, I know nothing of love. But I think those sparkles in your eyes when she is around, is love."

Damon couldn't help but being speechless again. How many times would she manage to amaze him with her statements? Sometimes it seemed as if she had the mind of a teenager, instead of a little girl.

"It hurts you, doesn't it? To see her with Stefan," she said softly.

Damon was silent and stared at the ceiling of the tomb. He had no idea what he was supposed to answer to that one. Of course he loved her. Of course it hurt him when he was with his little brother. Of course he would wish to be in Stefan's place. But this was the harsh reality. The reality that Stefan would always be chosen before him. It has always been that way, it still was and it would always remain the same. He was never the winner, he was always on the outskirts just out of reach, watching from the outside and only hoping; that it could be him living the life he had always wanted.

"Maybe you should tell her," Ally suggested gently. "She'll listen to you. I'm sure she will."

"I've told her once," he said, not sure if he wanted to tell this. Katherine was listening…and the less she knew, the better.

"And? What did she say?" Ally asked curiously.

"I don't know. I told her I loved her, but for that reason, I couldn't be selfish with her…she belongs with Stefan and I thought it should stay that way. That would be the best for her. Then I made her forget the things I said to her."

Ally frowned, as if she had problems with understanding. "So…you're in love with her, but you think she fits better with Stefan? And you also think that she'll be happier with him?"

"No, I think so because she _is_happier with him," He corrected.

"That's stupid," she said, while folding her arms over her chest. "You know, in the Lion king 2, Kiara and Kovu can't be together, but love eventually finds a way. I think that will happen with you two too." She said, convincing herself that's how it would be.

Damon laughed at the weird comparison. She always knew how to cheer him up if he was in a depressive mood.

He looked at Katherine, slightly surprised that she had nothing to say that could run his positive feelings into the ground. She sat there, silent and motionless. If she didn't occasionally blink, you'd swear she was dead.

Damon ignored her again, took the bottle of Bourbon and took a few gulps, after which the fatigue started to take him over.

"Are you tired?" asked Ally, who had apparently noticed. He nodded and sank a little further down against the wall. Ally threw a piece of the blanket over him. "Then you have to sleep, mom would say," she murmured softly. She snuggled her head into his shirt and then her eyes slowly began to close, as she drifted away in a silent sleep.

Damon waited until she was in dreamland before he allowed the sleep to overpower him.

Damon shot up when someone cleared his throat. Someone totally different than Katherine. He didn't know how long he had slept, but the light of the lamp no longer was the only light in the tomb…so he suspected it to be somewhere in the morning. Only God knew what time exactly.

He turned his head and looked straight at a pair of legs. His eyes followed the legs up, until they ran into the face of a total stranger. He hand never seen the man before, but something in his eyes commanded respect…and Damon bet that you had better not laughed with the guy. Damon felt slightly nervous about this but at the same time, not. He was here to help one way or another... that, Damon was sure of.

"Who are you?" He brought out hoarsely.

"My name is Elijah." The man said in a thick British accent. "How do you do?"

**So…you did you like it? This chapter was fun to write, so I hope I did a good job! Btw, what did you think of Elijah's appearance? Let me know what you think about it.  
The next chapter will be up soon, but as usual, it can take a bit longer.  
Thanks for reading.**


	15. The mysterious stranger

**Chapter fifteen**

**The mysterious stranger**

**Hey there, I'm back with the next chapter! I won't keep you to long from reading, but first I want to thank my friend, cdaye8184, for her great help. She's a great author, check out her stories!  
I also want to thank all of you for reading, alerting, reviewing etc. It means a lot to me!  
So…have fun reading!**

**Moonwolflove**

_Previous_

_He turned his head and looked straight at a pair of legs. His eyes followed the legs up, until they ran into the face of a total stranger. He hand never seen the man before, but something in his eyes commanded respect…and Damon bet that you had better not laughed with the guy. __Damon felt slightly nervous about this but at the same time, not. He was here to help one way or another... that, Damon was sure of._

"_Who are you?" He brought out hoarsely. _

"_My name is Elijah." __The man said in a thick British accent. "How do you do?"_

Damon realized that he wasn't able to stop staring at the man in front of him. He had heard that name before, but he couldn't exactly place where that should have been.

"Who are-" He begun, but he was abruptly interrupted.

"It doesn't matter for the moment," the stranger said in his English accent. "So…I guess you're Elena's friend? The one who was noble enough to save a little girl from a certain death? Damon Salvatore, am I right?"

Damon was shocked when the stranger mentioned Elena's name. How the hell did he know her? And what was hiding behind his knowledge.

He wanted to ask him how he knew her, but the thought that he probably wouldn't get a proper answer invaded his mind and he just decided to nod.

Ally, who had been sleeping peacefully just a few minutes ago, opened her eyes, blinked a few times and then quickly hid behind Damon, who looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "It's okay, Ally," he said as reassuringly as possible, while deep down he merely hoped he was right.

She stuck her head out and looked at Elijah with a look that was fairly hard to describe.

"Hello there, young lady," he said with a slight bow, which made Ally giggle. The look immediately disappeared from her face. "You're funny," she said with a laugh. "Who are you? Why do you talk so funny?"

"So nosy." He glared at Damon.

"I am not!" Ally protested. "I just want to know who you are. Are you here to help Damy?"

Elijah raised an eyebrow at that name and his eyes slid back to Damon, who had a fairly hard time not to scream that they really had to stop laughing with his pet name. Why did everybody think it was so funny? She was a kid giving an adult a nickname. It was just a name for God's sake!

Elijah frowned. "She seems to be attached to you, isn't she? I've heard quite a lot about you, Mr. Salvatore, not the most positive things I have to say. But I was rather surprised when Elena told me that you're stuck in here because you…sorry, what's your name, sweetheart?" That last was directed at Ally, who glanced at Damon as if she asked permission to say her name. He nodded lightly and then she said with firm tone: "Ally, sir."

"Elijah," he said. "My name is Elijah."

Ally sent him a smile, one that said that her mind was already planning something.

"Watch out, that smile means that she already has a nickname for you," Damon warned.

Elijah didn't say anything, but it seemed that he found it quite funny in his own way. Although that was difficult to deduce…the guy seemed like he didn't even know what funny meant. "Well…it certainly is clear why you saved her. She's adorable." He eyed the little brown eyed girl, the hint of a smile crossing his face. Damon didn't like that too well.

Damon couldn't do anything else. However adorable was yet too mildly expressed in Ally's case…she was much more than that…she was special.

"Now…back to the important matters," Elijah said as he pushed his fingertips together and looked at Damon. "I promised Elena to help you and since I never break a promise, I've done what I had to do. The spell is broken. You're free to walk out and return to your life." He said it so simply-so casually. Should Damon believe this man?

Damon was in an even greater shock than that he had been in the last ten minutes. He looked at Elijah in an incredulously manner, but something in his words quickly changed that. Something told him that he shouldn't dare to question what he had said. He took Ally's hand and raised his other one to the place where the invisible barrier had been.

Nothing.

No wall, nothing that prevented him from being free.

He heard how Ally caught her breath when she saw it too, but she was also feared of something-someone. And that someone was very close. He turned around when he felt a gust of wind and saw how Katherine stood beside him, her eyes wide with amazement. Apparently she had been hiding when she had seen Elijah coming…wait…that wasn't logical. Was she afraid of him? Why? He decided not to think about it too much, because if you tried to figure out what was going on in that strange brain of hers, you'd never get anywhere.

Suddenly, she shot off like an arrow from a bow, but never got very far, as she was easily stopped by the mysterious Elijah. "Ah, Katerina. It has been a long time," Elijah said with a small smile on his lips.

Katherine automatically backed away, raised her head in an arrogant manner. "Elijah."

It was obvious that she was trying to mask her fear with her arrogant behavior…but you could easily tell that it didn't help her a lot. "I am quite sure that Klaus will be glad to see you," he continued. "He wasn't very happy when you changed into a vampire…and certainly not when you ran off. So I'm sure that you understand that I can't let you go just like nothing happened. After all of the trouble you've caused my family, I can't let you go."

Klaus…now he remembered. He was an original, and so was his brother-this Elijah. But Klaus was the most feared throughout the vampire world, if he could remember correctly.

"No…please…you can't do this," Katherine protested, but Elijah shook his head slightly and spoke smoothly in his calm tone.

"Oh, that's where you are wrong. I can." He grabbed her chin and looked deep into her dark brown eyes "You'll stay here in the tomb until Klaus decides to spend you a visit. There is no longer a barrier keeping you but my words are. You cannot leave."

Katherine's eyes became dull and then she repeated in a blank tone and without any contradiction or arguing. "I'll stay in the tomb until Klaus decides to spend me a visit."

"Exactly," Elijah said with a small smile, after which he turned back to Damon, who hadn't moved one step. It didn't quite get through to him that he was no longer stuck in the darkness. He could go wherever he wanted…and best of all…he didn't have to be in the same space with Katherine anymore! He moved a step forward and a small smile crept up along the corners of his mouth. He hadn't had the smallest idea that he loved his freedom that much, but now he was fully aware of it. It was one of the worst things that could happen…being deprived from your freedom.

Ally almost jumped around in joy; her long, thick curls jumped around her little face as she did and she spoke in a melodious voice. "Damy is free! Damy is free!" She stopped jumping and a little, devilish look appeared in her eyes, as she turned towards Katherine. "And you're still trapped. Serves you right!" She stuck her tongue out at her and Katherine's eyes caught fire. If she hadn't been compelled to stay where she was, she would already have ripped Ally's head off.

Damon thought it was hilarious, of course. She really started to resemble him in some strange way and he simply couldn't resist to shrug while a big smirk showed up on his lips. "Sorry, Kath…well…not really though," he added.  
"Yeah, not really," Ally repeated while she stuck her tongue out again in a "that will shut you up" way.

"Screw the lot of you." Katherine pouted before slumping down against the rock wall.

After that, Damon turned back to Elijah, who had watched the whole scene with an raised eyebrow and a skeptical look on his face. "Charmed," he said, but there was no way he had actually meant that. "Well…I've kept my promise, so it's about time that I leave."

He had hardly spoken those words when Ally jumped into his arms and swung her arms around his neck tightly. That must have captured him off guard. The surprise was written all over his face and it was clear that he- unlike Damon-wasn't used to little girls that jumped into his arms.

"Thank you…Lee, for getting Damy out of the tomb," she whispered softly. Damy himself had his arms folded across his chest and he had to bite back a laugh when he heard Ally's nickname for Elijah. The stranger seemed like he hadn't expected a nickname like that…or a nickname at all. He was struggling to wipe the weird look of his face. There was no way that he would ever laugh with Damon's nickname again, not now he had one of his own.  
Elijah, at some point, succeeded to compose his face back to normal and he said with a small smile: "You don't have to thank me, dear, thank Elena."

Damon just knew that those last words were directed at him and he quickly made a mental note that he had to thank her. She had kept her promise but after all…he never doubted that she would. He was only a bit worried about her knowing Elijah, who was, not to forget, an original. And why did he made a promise to Elena that he would help him out of the tomb? Don't get him wrong, he was grateful, but he still didn't trust the guy or the mystery that was behind this whole 'good guy' act. Damon didn't buy it for a second.

Elijah put Ally back on the ground, after which she ran to Damon and jumped into his arms. "She definitely is a special girl."

"If you only knew," Damon said while sending a smile towards Ally.

Ally could conquer everyone's heart, whether they wanted it or not. She had something special about her…maybe it was her childhood innocence and her friendly nature. Or perhaps those big, brown eyes that looked at you and told that she understood more than you thought…that she was able to wipe out every bad memory or thought with one of her beautiful, angelic smiles.

Whatever it was, it was unique to her.

Ally was Ally and there was no person in the world who was like her.

"Well then…until or paths cross again, Mr. Salvatore…miss Ally," Elijah said as he made the same slight bow for her as he had made before.

Damon nodded and before he could thank him, the stranger disappeared…with the rustle of the wind.

Ally looked at him with questioning eyes. "Can we go home now…please?"

"Of course we can," he said, and it made him happy that he was able to say those words, because they seemed to brighten Ally's face even more.

He grabbed the basket that Elena had brought from the ground and planned to leave the tomb a long way behind him, when Katherine's voice prevented him from moving.

"Damon, please. You can't leave me here like that," she said pleadingly.

Damon turned to her with a look in his eyes that said as much as "go to hell". "Wrong, be sure that I can do that, because after all you did to me, you don't deserve better than to rot in this nightmare. And besides…even if I wanted to help you, which, I can assure you, won't happen. I wouldn't be able to do so even if I wanted to because Mr. Original compelled you. I can't undo his compelling. You see…I don't want, can't and won't do anything to get you out of here. Have a nice eternity in this hell whole Katherine. May you rot in misery." He smirked at himself for twisted around that limerick.

"Damon, no, wait! Damon!"

He ignored her completely, slightly bent his knees and jumped out of the darkness, as Katherine's desperate screams started to fade. He never thought that he would be so happy to see the sun again or to smell the forest around him. But after all…he had never been stuck somewhere before for two whole days, in the dark. "Okay," he said to Ally, "Ready to go home in vampire style?"

"What do you mean with that?" Ally asked a bit wary.

"You'll see," Damon smirked. "Hold on tight."

Ally wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and then he began to run, till the world around them was nothing more than a blur.

An endless world of endless freedom.

And he loved it.

**So…how did you like it? Originally I wasn't going to spend a whole chapter on Elijah, but as he's one of my favorites, I've changed that.  
I have to mention that this story is almost finished. It's already a lot longer than I originally planned and I have the feeling that it has almost come to an end.  
Stay tuned for the next chapter! It will be up soon, but as usual it can take a bit longer.  
Thanks for reading!**


	16. The deal

**Chapter sixteen**

**The deal**

**Hey there, I'm back with the new chapter. I know that I haven't updated in a while, so I made this one a little longer. I really hope that you'll enjoy it.  
But first, I want to thank my friend cdaye8184, for helping me. She's a great author and you should definitely check out her stories. I also want to thank all of you for reading, reviewing, alerting etc. I love you all!  
Now, have fun reading!**

**Moonwolflove**

_Previous_

"_Okay," he said to Ally, "Ready to go home in vampire style?"_

"_What do you mean with that?" Ally asked a bit wary. _

"_You'll see," Damon smirked. "Hold on tight."_

_Ally wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and then he began to run, till the world around them was nothing more than a blur. _

_An endless world of endless freedom._

_And he loved it._

When Damon stopped at the Gilbert house almost instantly after he had started running, Ally looked like she had changed into some ghost form of her former self. Her hands that had held the collar of his jacket in a koala-like manner the whole time let loose in a trembling way and when Damon put her back on the ground she almost fell backwards.

"Are you all right? You look a bit…," perhaps he should have replaced 'bit' by 'very' pale. "...pale."

All the blood had drained from her little face and her curls hung in a dreary tangle around her head. It almost seemed like she had spent a day in the middle of a hurricane.

"I don't feel good," The little girl said, and he immediately regretted that he had chosen to travel 'vampire style'. He should have known that the speed would be too much for the girl…but..well…at that moment that thought had completely slipped his mind. That happened quite often. Damon mentally kicked himself in the butt and promised himself that until she got older he'd never do that again. Most people didn't seem to mind it but then again, any other people he had ever taken with him like that had been older. She was young and probably had a weak stomach. He seemed to be more the impulsive type. Do first, think later.

Ally took a few deep breaths and Damon had never seen a human recover so quickly from nausea. With every breath of air she took, her face received more color…until she looked more or less normal again. The pale tan and faint blush he had grown to adore was back in it's original position.

"That run was a bad idea," she said.

"Apparently," he said. "Well then…do you want to surprise Elena?"

Ally's face suddenly turned from queasy to mischievous in an instant as a smirk appeared across her tiny lips. One that unintentionally reminded Damon of the Cheshire cat…don't ask him how the hell he knew that cat.

"Of course," she said, as she ran to the front door and jumped to reach the bell. Every time she did, her arm was a just a bit too short to reach it. Damon leaned against the wall, with his arms folded over his chest, while watching the whole scene with a smile.

"Are you sure that you don't need help?" He asked laughing. Her failing to reach the doorbell was hilarious.

"No…I can do it myself" She said confidently, while making another jump…just to miss once again.

Damon raised an eyebrow and Ally sent him a slightly irritated look. Of course she wanted to do it by herself…all kids were the same… "Okay fine, can you help me, please?" she asked, irritated that she was too small to reach the doorbell.

"Sure," he said, taking her in his arms and Ally suddenly seemed happy…as she was able to reach the doorbell now.

He shook his head, grinning, when she didn't see it.

The sound of the doorbell echoed through his head and after what seemed like eternity, he heard some commotion in the hallway. Someone came down the door slowly opened and Jeremy appeared in the doorway, while sleepily rubbing his eyes. "Damon? Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Glad to see you too, Jer," he said with his famous smirk, as he walked through the hall, into the living room.

Jeremy ran after him, confused…and surprised. "Wait…weren't you trapped in the tomb? How did you…"

Damon didn't let him finish his sentence, shrugged and said: "Some mysterious stranger lifted the spell."

Jeremy's brow shot up in an incredulous gesture.

"It's the truth, you know," Damon said. "Ask Ally, if you don't believe me."

Jeremy's eyes worthlessly slid to Ally, who nodded. "Okay," he said, still not entirely convinced. "Welcome back then…I guess."

After that he turned his attention to Ally, while smiling a big, genuine smile. "And what about you? I've heard that you've been through a lot."

Ally put up a smile that was even bigger than his and nodded wildly. "Wanna hear about it?"

"Sure…I wouldn't want to miss that story," he said with a brief look at Damon, who rolled his eyes in exaggeration.

"Okay," Ally said enthusiastically, "but first I want to wake Elena."

"Whoa, wait, Ally. Not such a good…," Jeremy began, but it was too late, because the little girl was already running up the seconds later, her voice echoed through the entire house…it was quite amazing how loud kids could scream. For a little girl who had such a sweet, angelic voice; her scream sure was deafening and ear-piercing. Damon and Jeremy both covered their hands with their ears in unison.

Damon imagined how Elena would fall out of her bed in terror. And it made him chuckling. Ally…the terror of every normal sleeping teenager. Damon turned around when he became aware of her presence, and he saw Elena…standing in the light of the hallway. She wore a neat, white nightgown and her long, shiny hair fell over her bare shoulders, while the light from the hallway gave her an almost angelic appearance.

For a moment Damon thought that he had fallen asleep somewhere in between, because this seemed like a beautiful dream. Too good to be angel ran towards him and caught him in an embrace. It was at that moment that he realized that he was awake for hundred percent…even though it was too weird for words.

"You're back," she whispered softly against his shoulder. Damon had no idea how to behave in this rare situation.

Jeremy rolled his eyes and muttered something like: "I don't think I want to see this." After which he disappeared.

Ally apparently didn't have the need to leave, because she quickly ran towards them and wrapped her tiny arms around their legs. As if she wanted to say something.

And Damon dared to bet that that had been her very intention.

Elena smiled at her cousin and ran a hand through her dark brown curls.

"God, I'm going to miss you, Ally," she said, as she broke away from the embrace and took Ally in her arms.

"I'll miss you too, Elena." The four-year old sobbed.

"Wait," Damon suddenly said, failing to hide the emotion in his voice. "When…"

"Her mother will pick her up tomorrow morning," Elena interrupted him, with some regret audible in her voice.

Damon paused and glanced from one angel to another. He had known that Ally would ever have to return to her real home. There even had been a moment where he had wanted nothing more than that…but now…he had grown used to the little girl and he would miss her. More than he would ever admit. He had become attached to her-the one thing he tried not to do but it happened anyway and now it was going to kill him when she left. "Oh, that's…good for her," he said, trying to smile. He couldn't be selfish with the little girl. He would be his usual self and he would try to make her "moment of leaving" unforgettable. He already had something in mind. Something that she would simply love. But for now, he refused to think of her leaving, he had other things to do. And one of these things appeared on the edge of his mind.

There was something he had to ask Elena.

"Elena, can I speak to you for a moment," he asked.

"Of course," she said, but she soon understood that he meant "without Ally."

Elena turned when Jeremy reappeared in the living room and asked with one of her sweetest smiles: "Jer, would you mind to take Ally out for a walk?"

Jeremy glanced from her to Damon and then to Ally and a knowing look appeared in this eyes. "Uh…sure. Come on, Ally. We go for a walk and then you can tell me everything that you've been through."

Ally seemed to like that idea, took his hand and together they walked out of the house.

"Okay, what is it you want to talk about?" Elena asked as she sat down on the couch and eyed him with a somewhat suspicious look.

Damon knew that she expected some kind of subject about which she wouldn't be very happy. And she was absolutely right…she probably wouldn't like it at all. "Let's say that I woke up this morning with an Original standing in front of me. A guy called Elijah, who told me that you asked him to lift the spell."

Elena's big, brown eyes had a "here we go again" look to endure and Damon knew that he had hit a sensitive chord.

"Care to explain what's behind all of it?" He asked after noticing her change in her features.

Elena paused. He could read on her face that she was thinking what to tell and what not. Things he wasn't allowed to know. Then she shrugged in a nonchalant way and said: "There is nothing behind it, Damon."

"Really? Then tell me…how do you know him?" Damon pushed onward.

Elena sighed and said a little angry: "Can't you just be happy that you're no longer stuck in that tomb?"

"I can't be happy, Elena. Not if you got yourself in trouble only to help me," he said in a harsh tone.

Elena folded her arms in silence and locked her eyes with his. She didn't plan on betraying anything. Whatever she would tell next…it would be a lie. "I met him at the Grill, okay?"

"Oh, and what did he say? 'Hey, Elena. I'm Elijah. I'm one of the Originals and my brother happens to be Klaus…the most feared Original in the world. Every vampire with some common sense is afraid of him. But hey, don't worry. I'm here to help you. You know what, I'll lift the spell on the tomb. And after that we can all live happily ever after. Doesn't that sound nice?'"

Elena stood up in anger and wanted to walk away, but Damon grabbed her arm and looked her straight in the eye.

"I'll ask you one more time. What's behind it?"

"You won't let it go, will you?" she said in an irritated tone. He knew what she was thinking at that moment. Something like: "Why does he have to be so difficult?"

She was completely right. He was being difficult…and he was fully aware of it. But he had his reasons to do so. He didn't want her to act like hero…to close a deal with some mysterious figure…only to help him.

But of course, he was already too late. If there was a deal, then it would already be arranged. The only thing he could do was find out what the deal was…because he knew for sure that there was one.

He shook his head in response to her question. She fell back in the couch and pointed a warning finger in his direction.

"If I tell you, then you won't tell anyone else. Not Bonnie, nor Jeremy. Not even Stefan. Do you understand me? No one," she said in a commanding tone.

Damon was slightly surprised that she had added Stefan to the list. It must have been worse that he thought…if even her great love wasn't allowed to know.

"You rarely break a promise. So promise me," she ordered.

"Bad idea, because who says I won't have one of those rare moments where I won't keep my promise? In that case, you might as well not let me make that promise."

Elena sighed, as if she was having headaches of his smart talk. "All right, but still…I don't want anyone to know. I have the situation under control, okay?"

Damon nodded, though he highly doubted the fact that she had control, because as far as he could see, she had not the slightest idea who Elijah was.

"I've seen Elijah before, when I and Rose went searching for Slater. But he vanished as quickly as he had come. When Jenna returned from her business trip yesterday, she told me that she had met someone who was extremely interested in the history of Mystic Falls. She said that he would come over in the evening. Let's say that I was a bit in shock when I saw who that person was," she told. "He said that he wouldn't harm my family or friends. Not if I lived my life until the day he needed me. You see, he's not interested in breaking the curse…he's interested in killing Klaus. Therefore he needs me…the doppelganger. Klaus wants me, so Elijah has to be sure that I'm safe here. And where am I safer than with my friends and family? I asked if he could do me a favor. I asked him to lift the spell on the tomb…and that's what he did."

"Wait," Damon said. "If I understand it correctly…you have a deal with a creepy Original, while not knowing what he has planned for you? Did the idea that you might die ever cross your mind?"

Okay, maybe he wasn't indirectly the cause that she had made a deal with the guy. But still…he didn't like it at all.

Elena looked at him with a dull expression and then said: "I did what I thought that was best."

"Did you lose your mind?" he snapped.

"No, Damon. I protect those I love. Is that so wrong?"

"You're playing with your own life, Elena. You have no idea what you're doing." His blood pressure was no boiling. Leave it to Elena to be the martyr. "You're basically sacrificing your own life."

"Perhaps I do," she said, after which she got up and walked away, leaving Damon alone with his thoughts. "And maybe I am, maybe I'm not. All I know is that I'm doing it for a damn good reason."

What should he do? He couldn't let her go through with this ridiculous idea. Whatever Elijah's plan was…it wouldn't be of any good. No, he had to tell this to someone. Even though she had explicitly told him not to…God, why were things so difficult?

Okay, maybe he had to wait another day. Then he would tell everything to Stefan…he would be able to talk some sense into her. At least, that was what he hoped. Perhaps he would be able to make her forget the whole "I need to sacrifice myself" idea.

He glanced around for a moment and then decided to go home. He had some things to do before Ally left tomorrow morning. Ugh, he dreaded the moment already. He didn't even want to go to sleep because sleep meant time would speed up which would lead to him having to leave that sweet, little girl even earlier than he would be ready for. And besides, he needed a good distraction to get it off his mind and calm him down.

**So, how did you like it? I had to explain the whole situation about the deal between Elijah and Elena, so I hope that it wasn't too boring.  
Thanks for reading!**


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